Piedmont Natural Gas Announces Quarterly Dividend

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Sep 02, 2010, 11:37 ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- At its regular quarterly meeting of the Company's Board of Directors, Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE: PNY) today announced the declaration of a quarterly dividend on Common Stock of 28 cents per share, payable October 15, 2010, to holders of record at the close of business on September 22, 2010.

With today's dividend announcement, Piedmont Natural Gas Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas E. Skains commented, "The current maximum dividend tax rate of 15 percent is set to expire at the end of this year unless Congress takes action. If the current rates expire and dividend tax rates revert to their prior levels, shareholders would be adversely impacted by a substantial tax increase at a time when our economy remains weak. Some shareholders could be subject to maximum dividend tax rates of more than 40 percent. Such a tax increase would also increase the cost of capital to energy companies like Piedmont and the customers we serve. We need certainty and stability to make the new energy infrastructure investments necessary to deliver clean, domestic natural gas to American energy consumers. I would urge our shareholders to join our efforts at www.defendmydividend.com and ask their Congressional representatives to extend the current maximum dividend tax rates before they expire."

Conference Call

Piedmont Natural Gas will conduct its 2010 third quarter conference call, broadcast live over the internet on Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Hosting the conference call will be Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas E. Skains. Simply log on to the web at www.piedmontng.com and click on Investors, then on Presentations. The conference call will be archived on the website.

About Piedmont Natural Gas

Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to more than one million residential, commercial and industrial utility customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including 52,000 customers served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy- related businesses, including unregulated retail natural gas marketing, interstate natural gas storage and intrastate natural gas transportation. More information about Piedmont Natural Gas is available at www.piedmontng.com.

SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas