Spectra Energy Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2012 Results

HOUSTON, Feb. 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

2012 Year-End Highlights

• Purchased 1/3 interest in two NGL pipelines: Sand Hills and Southern Hills
• Announced agreement to acquire Express-Platte Pipeline System
• Completed TEAM 2012 and Philadelphia Lateral expansion projects
• Increased annual dividend 9 percent to $1.22 per share

Spectra Energy Corp (NYSE: SE) today reported 2012 net income from controlling interests of $940 million, or $1.43 diluted EPS, compared with $1.18 billion, or $1.81 diluted EPS in 2011. Ongoing 2012 net income was $938 million, or $1.43 diluted EPS, compared with $1.16 billion, or $1.77 diluted EPS, in the prior year.

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"Throughout 2012 Spectra Energy's fee-based businesses generated strong earnings and cash flows, helping to offset the effects of lower commodity prices," said Greg Ebel, president and chief executive officer, Spectra Energy Corp.

"In both the near and longer term, Spectra Energy will continue to realize significant opportunities in the natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil infrastructure businesses. As a result, we are targeting investments of $25 billion in capital expansion projects through the end of the decade," said Ebel.  "This investment will allow us to realize significant incremental earnings and cash generation, supporting long-term earnings growth and attractive dividend increases for our investors."

BUSINESS EXPANSION UPDATES

Spectra Energy has a strong core natural gas infrastructure business built over the course of a century, and continues to see steady growth within that core through projects like the New Jersey-New York Expansion, TEAM 2014, OPEN, Dawson II and AIM.  The company also is expanding beyond the core and moving forward with projects longer-term like Renaissance, NEXUS and the BG Group LNG pipeline project in Western Canada. 

Additionally, Spectra Energy is continuing to expand in the complementary natural gas liquids (NGL) sector, and upon closing its acquisition of the Express-Platte Pipeline System, will enter the crude oil transportation business.  DCP Midstream also will place more than $3 billion of projects into service over the next 12 months, benefitting its owners, Spectra Energy and Phillips 66. 

"We will be drawing upon all of our resources: core growth; greenfield and brownfield expansions into new and existing demand markets; new lines of adjacent businesses and acquisitions, when attractive; and, of course, the use of our MLP structures," stated Ebel.  "We have a great portfolio mix and have been able to use the sum of our business lines to successfully navigate through market cycles." 

SEGMENT RESULTS

U.S. Transmission
U.S. Transmission reported fourth quarter 2012 earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $249 million, compared with $226 million in fourth quarter 2011.  EBIT results reflect increased earnings from expansions and lower operating costs, partially offset by lower processing revenues and, as anticipated, lower storage revenues.

Year-end reported EBIT for U.S. Transmission was $995 million, compared with $983 million in 2011.

Distribution
Distribution reported fourth quarter 2012 EBIT of $93 million, compared with $120 million in fourth quarter 2011. The decrease is due primarily to an unexpected, retroactive decision from the Ontario Energy Board in November 2012 requiring certain revenues realized from the optimization of upstream transportation contracts be refunded to customers. 

Year-end reported EBIT for Distribution was $374 million, compared with $425 million in 2011.

Western Canada Transmission & Processing
Western Canada Transmission & Processing reported fourth quarter 2012 EBIT of $72 million, compared with $137 million in fourth quarter 2011.  The segment experienced lower earnings at the Empress natural gas liquids (NGL) business, attributable primarily to lower propane prices.  An increase in gathering and processing revenue from expansions in the Horn River and Montney areas of British Columbia was more than offset by an anticipated revenue decrease from the segment's conventional areas.

Year-end reported EBIT for Western Canada Transmission & Processing was $387 million, compared with $510 million in 2011.

Field Services
Field Services reported fourth quarter 2012 EBIT of $58 million, compared with $96 million in fourth quarter 2011. This decrease in EBIT was mainly driven by lower natural gas liquids prices, partially offset by a reduction in depreciation expense, as previously reported.

During the fourth quarters of 2012 and 2011, respectively, NGL prices averaged $0.77 per gallon versus $1.20 per gallon, NYMEX natural gas averaged $3.40 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) versus $3.55 per MMBtu, and crude oil averaged approximately $88 per barrel versus approximately $94 per barrel.

DCP Midstream paid distributions of $203 million to Spectra Energy for the year ended December 31, 2012.

Year-end reported EBIT for Field Services was $279 million, compared with $449 million in 2011.

Other
"Other" reported net costs of $29 million and $28 million in the fourth quarter 2012 and 2011, respectively. Other is comprised primarily of corporate costs, including benefits and captive insurance.

Year-end reported net costs for "Other" were $112 million, compared with $104 million in 2011.

Interest Expense
Interest expense was $154 million for fourth quarter 2012 and 2011. 

Income Taxes
Fourth quarter 2012 income tax expense from continuing operations was $81 million, compared with $115 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2011.  The lower tax expense was driven by lower earnings and a lower Canadian effective tax rate, partially offset by favorable tax adjustments in 2011. 

Additional Information

Additional information about fourth quarter and year-end 2012 earnings can be obtained via the Spectra Energy Web site: www.spectraenergy.com.

The analyst call is scheduled for today, Tuesday, February 5, 2013, at 8:00 a.m. CT. The webcast can be accessed via the Investors Section of Spectra Energy's Web site or the conference call can be accessed by dialing (888) 252-3715 in the United States or Canada, or (706) 634-8942 for International. The conference code is "86182126" or "Spectra Energy Quarterly Earnings Call."

Please call five to ten minutes prior to the scheduled start time. A replay of the call will be available until 5:00 p.m. CT, May 3, 2013, by dialing (855) 859-2056.  The international replay number is (404) 537-3406, with above conference ID. A replay and transcript also will be available by accessing the Investors Section of the company's Web site.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We use ongoing net income from controlling interests and ongoing diluted EPS as measures to evaluate operations of the company.  These measures are non-GAAP financial measures as they represent net income from controlling interests and diluted EPS, adjusted for special items and discontinued operations. Special items represent certain charges and credits which we believe will not be recurring on a regular basis, and discontinued operations do not represent our ongoing core business. We believe that the presentation of ongoing net income and ongoing diluted EPS provide useful information to investors, as it allows them to more accurately compare our ongoing performance across periods. The most directly comparable GAAP measures for ongoing net income from controlling interests and ongoing diluted EPS are net income from controlling interests and diluted EPS, including any special items.

The primary performance measure used by us to evaluate segment performance is segment EBIT from continuing operations, which at the segment level represents earnings from continuing operations (both operating and non-operating) before interest and taxes, net of noncontrolling interests related to those earnings. We consider segment EBIT, which is the GAAP measure used to report segment results, to be a good indicator of each segment's operating performance from its continuing operations as it represents the results of our ownership interest in operations without regard to financing methods or capital structures.

We also use ongoing segment EBIT and Other EBIT (net costs) as measures of performance. Ongoing segment and Other EBIT are non-GAAP financial measures as they represent reported segment and Other EBIT adjusted for special items. We believe that the presentation of ongoing segment and Other EBIT provide useful information to investors, as they allow investors to more accurately compare a segment's or Other's ongoing performance across periods. The most directly comparable GAAP measures for ongoing segment or Other EBIT are reported segment or Other EBIT, which represent EBIT from continuing operations, including any special items.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements are based on our beliefs and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are identified by terms and phrases such as: anticipate, believe, intend, estimate, expect, continue, should, could, may, plan, project, predict, will, potential, forecast, and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from the results predicted.  Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in any forward-looking statement include, but are not limited to: state, federal and foreign legislative and regulatory initiatives that affect cost and investment recovery, have an effect on rate structure, and affect the speed at and degree to which competition enters the natural gas and oil industries; outcomes of litigation and regulatory investigations, proceedings or inquiries; weather and other natural phenomena, including the economic, operational and other effects of hurricanes and storms; the timing and extent of changes in commodity prices, interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates; general economic conditions, including the risk of a prolonged economic slowdown or decline, or the risk of delay in a recovery, which can affect the long-term demand for natural gas and oil and related services; potential effects arising from terrorist attacks and any consequential or other hostilities; changes in environmental, safety and other laws and regulations; the development of alternative energy resources; results and costs of financing efforts, including the ability to obtain financing on favorable terms, which can be affected by various factors, including credit ratings and general market and economic conditions; increases in the cost of goods and services required to complete capital projects; declines in the market prices of equity and debt securities and resulting funding requirements for defined benefit pension plans; growth in opportunities, including the timing and success of efforts to develop U.S. and Canadian pipeline, storage, gathering, processing and other infrastructure projects and the effects of competition; the performance of natural gas and oil transmission and storage, distribution, and gathering and processing facilities; the extent of success in connecting natural gas and oil supplies to gathering, processing and transmission systems and in connecting to expanding gas and oil markets; the effects of accounting pronouncements issued periodically by accounting standard-setting bodies; conditions of the capital markets during the periods covered by the forward-looking statements; and the ability to successfully complete merger, acquisition or divestiture plans; regulatory or other limitations imposed as a result of a merger, acquisition or divestiture; and the success of the business following a merger, acquisition or divestiture.  These factors, as well as additional factors that could affect our forward-looking statements, are described under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information" in our 2011 Form 10-K, filed on February 27, 2012, and in our other filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which are available via the SEC's Web site at www.sec.gov. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events described in the forward-looking statements might not occur or might occur to a different extent or at a different time than we have described. All forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Spectra Energy Corp (NYSE: SE), a FORTUNE 500 company, is one of North America's premier natural gas infrastructure companies serving three key links in the natural gas value chain: gathering and processing, transmission and storage, and distribution. For more than a century, Spectra Energy and its predecessor companies have developed critically important pipelines and related infrastructure connecting natural gas supply sources to premium markets. Based in Houston, Texas, the company's operations in the United States and Canada include more than 19,000 miles of transmission pipeline, approximately 305 billion cubic feet of storage, as well as natural gas gathering and processing, natural gas liquids and local distribution operations. The company also has a 50 percent ownership in DCP Midstream, one of the largest natural gas gatherers and processors in the United States. Spectra Energy is a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability World and North America Indexes and the Carbon Disclosure Project's Global 500 and S&P 500 Carbon Disclosure Leadership Indexes. For more information, visit www.spectraenergy.com.

SOURCE Spectra Energy Corp