PPL 1Q Net Down 7.3% On Lower Pound, Wholesale Margins

   DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

PPL Corp.'s (PPL) first-quarter net income fell 7.3% on the U.K. pound's weakness against other currencies and lower wholesale margins in the U.S.

Reduced power demand because of the recession and falling electricity prices are forcing power providers to cut spending. In February, PPL said it would cut 6% of its nonunion workers in the U.S., although it also raised its quarterly dividend by a cent that month.

PPL, a Pennsylvania-based seller of electricity with about 4 million customers in Pennsylvania and the U.K., posted net income of $241 million, or 64 cents a share, from $260 million, or 69 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, including hedging impacts, earnings fell to 60 cents from 61 cents. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters anticipated 46 cents.

Revenue jumped 55% to $2.36 billion.

Chairman and Chief Executive James Miller said PPL is seeing benefits from cutting back its risks in the wholesale-energy markets, where prices are more volatile and margins are susceptible to changing fuel costs.

PPL's supply business saw a higher earnings on a debt-repurchase gain, while the Pennsylvania delivery business reported a decline on weakness in the natural-gas and

Shares of PPL, which again reiterated its 2009 and 2010 profit targets, closed Thursday at $29.91 and was inactive premarket. The stock has fallen by nearly 45% since July.

-By Joan E. Solsman and Kevin Kingsbury, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5500; [e-mail]