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Market: TSX NYSE
Sector: Oil & Gas Equipment & Services
EPIC: ENB
Latest Price: 41.16  (2.82% Ascending)
52-week High: 41.48
52-week Low: 28.69
Market Cap: 32,305.60M
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Enbridge
www.enbridge.com

Enbridge operates, in Canada and the U.S., the world’s longest crude oil and liquids pipeline system.

Full Enbridge profile here
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Enbridge fourth-quarter earnings grow slightly, raises dividend 15%

17th Feb 2012, 10:52 am by Joyanta Acharjee
Enbridge fourth-quarter earnings grow slightly, raises dividend 15%

Pipeline and energy company Enbridge (TSE:ENB) Friday reported slightly higher fourth-quarter net earnings as it said it would increase its dividend by 15 percent.

The Calgary-based company said earnings were $335 million, or 44 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, compared to $326 million, or 44 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company also increased its 2012 quarterly dividend by 15 percent to 28 cents per share.

Revenues grew to $5.4 billion from $4.1 billion in the fourth-quarter of 2010 as the company shipped a greater volume across its pipelines. Adjusted fourth-quarter earnings were $275 million or 37 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were on average expecting earnings of 39 cents per share and revenue of $4.4 billion.
Enbridge said fourth quarter results were hit by reduced earnings from gas distribution due to warmer than normal weather and a $29 million charge related to insurance recoveries.

Results also included $98 million in income taxes on an inter-company sale.

Enbridge president and CEO Patrick Daniel said: "2011 was an excellent year for Enbridge with results reaching the top end of our adjusted earnings per share guidance, and a total return to our shareholders of 40 percent.

"Moreover, we remain confident that Enbridge can achieve an average annual growth rate in adjusted earnings per share of 10 per cent through 2015, based on conservative assumptions for mainline throughput and future growth investment."

During the fourth quarter, Enbridge acquired a 50 percent stake in the Seaway Crude Oil Pipeline and said it would go ahead with the $1.9 billion Flanagan South Pipeline component of its Gulf Coast Access initiative.

"Enbridge's Gulf Coast Access initiative offers a near-term solution for shippers in western Canada and the Bakken to access the Texas Gulf Coast through the cost-effective and efficient use of existing facilities and rights-of-way. Interest from shippers is strong and we anticipate providing additional information on capacity of the project in coming weeks," Enbridge's Daniel said.

The company also entered the Canadian midstream natural gas sector during the quarter, securing a 71 percent interest in the development of the Cabin Gas Plant in northeastern British Columbia.

Enbridge plans to build twin pipelines connecting Alberta to the West Coast — one that would carry oilsands crude westward for export, and one that would bring imported condensates inland for use in the oilsands.

The goal of the $5.5 billion Northern Gateway project is to diversify Canada's customer base for crude exports, which currently comprises only the United States. Northern Gateway would enable Asian countries to buy Canadian crude.

The Gateway project faces steep hurdles. Native groups, environmentalists and others are among the many critics to voice concern over the environmental impact of a possible spillage.

Enbridge says the pipeline would bring jobs and economic development to northern B.C. communities. But many of those groups say it's simply not worth it to endanger their way of life.

A government Joint Review Panel had been expected to make a recommendation to the federal cabinet on the pipeline by the end of 2012, but a decision is now expected a year later due to the sheer volume of comments it must hear.

Enbridge and its partner, Enterprise Products Partners, have another market-expanding project in the works to bring landlocked crude to refineries along the Texas coast. They're planning to reverse the flow of the Seaway pipeline, which currently currently brings oil imported into the Gulf Coast to a storage hub at Cushing, Oklahoma.

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