NRG Energy Swings to Loss on Write-Downs

   By Ben Fox Rubin 
 

NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) swung to a fourth-quarter loss as the merchant power generator posted substantial write-downs.

NRG, one of the biggest electricity producers in the U.S., last year agreed to acquire an Edison International (EIX) unit's coal plants, wind farms and other assets out of bankruptcy in a $2.6 billion deal. Edison Mission sells electricity in unregulated markets and has struggled to make money through a prolonged period of low prices, weak power demand and rising costs at the unit's aging coal-fired power plants in Illinois. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter.

For NRG, the pending acquisition is the latest in a string of purchases that have bulked up its fleet of conventional power plants and its retail power-sales business. NRG in 2012 became the biggest wholesale electricity company in the U.S. after it bought rival GenOn Energy in a deal valued at about $1.7 billion.

NRG reported a loss of $290 million, or 90 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier profit of $252 million, $1.02 a share. For the latest period, the company posted write-downs totaling $558 million primarily from its Indian River facility and Gladstone investment, while the year-earlier period included bargain purchase gains of $296 million related to the GenOn acquisition.

NRG Energy also boosted its dividend 17% to an annual payout of 56 cents a share, and backed its adjusted earnings guidance for 2014.

Write to Ben Fox Rubin at [e-mail]

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