NSTAR, an energy delivery company serving 1.4 million customers in Massachusetts, announced today that it increased its earnings by 5.5 percent, despite a $27 million drop in its core energy business due to unseasonably warm weather in 2006.
NSTAR reported earnings of $0.38 per common share for the fourth quarter of 2006, compared to $0.36 per share reported for the same period in 2005. The company also reported earnings of $1.93 per share for the year ended December 31, 2006, compared to $1.83 per share for the year ended December 31, 2005.
The Boston-based company experienced a 1.9 percent decrease in electricity sales and a 9.4 percent drop in gas sales on the year. Thomas May, chairman, president, and CEO for NSTAR, said that positive results from the company’s non-utility operations more than offset those impacts.Â
“Our total return to shareholders – the combination of dividends paid and share price appreciation – was 24.5 percent for the year 2006, a level that surpassed both the industry and the S&P 500,” said May. “NSTAR’s total return to its shareholders has been very strong over the longer term as well, as it has outperformed the industry and the S&P 500 over both the past five and ten-year periods.”
