Message-ID: <852183.1075853289547.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 01:43:00 -0700 (PDT) From: eric.thode@enron.com To: richard.sanders@enron.com Subject: Enron Mentions Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: Eric Thode X-To: Richard B Sanders X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Richard_Sanders_Oct2001\Notes Folders\Tva X-Origin: Sanders-R X-FileName: rsanders.nsf The last article... ---------------------- Forwarded by Eric Thode/Corp/Enron on 10/17/2000 08:43 AM --------------------------- Karen Denne 10/17/2000 07:15 AM To: Eric Thode/Corp/Enron@ENRON cc: Subject: Enron Mentions fyi, TVA article... are you the spokesman? ---------------------- Forwarded by Karen Denne/Corp/Enron on 10/17/2000 07:17 AM --------------------------- From: Ann M Schmidt 10/17/2000 07:11 AM To: Mark Palmer/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Karen Denne/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Meredith Philipp/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Steven J Kean/NA/Enron@Enron, Mary Clark/Corp/Enron@ENRON, Laura Schwartz/Corp/Enron@Enron, Elizabeth Linnell/NA/Enron@Enron cc: Subject: Enron Mentions Enron's Third-Quarter Profit Rises 31 Percent as Sales Surge 10/17/0 7:36 (New York) Enron's Third-Quarter Profit Rises 31 Percent as Sales Surge Houston, Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Enron Corp., the world's largest energy trader, said third-earnings rose 31 percent as revenue more than doubled. Net income rose to $292 million, or 34 cents a share, from profit from operations of $223 million, or 27 cents, in the year- earlier quarter. Enron was expected to earn 32 cents a share, the average estimate of analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial. Revenue rose to $30 billion from $11.84 billion. Revenue from Enron's wholesale energy operations and services unit, which consists of marketing energy commodities and investing in energy-related assets, more than doubled to $28.2 billion from $11.1 billion. Revenue from its retail energy services business almost tripled to $1.48 billion from $542 million. In the year-earlier quarter, a gain of $345 million, or 44 cents a share, and a charge of $278 million, or 36 cents, made net income $290 million, or 35 cents. Shares in the Houston-based company rose 50 cents to $80 yesterday. They've risen 80 percent this year. --Per H. Jebsen in the New York newsroom (212) 893-3368, or pjebsen@bloomberg.net, through the Princeton newsroom (609) 279- 4000/als Story illustration: To see the breakdown of Enron's annual sales, see {ENE US DES6 }. USA: Enron earnings rise 31 percent, beat expectations. 10/17/2000 Reuters English News Service (C) Reuters Limited 2000. HOUSTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Enron Corp., North America's biggest buyer and seller of electricity and natural gas, said on Tuesday its third-quarter earnings rose 31 percent, beating Wall Street's expectations as online trading helped drive strong growth at its wholesale energy operations. Recurring net income rose to $292 million or 34 cents per share from $223 million or 27 cents in the third quarter of 1999. Wall Street analysts had expected earnings of 32 cents a share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. "Our wholesale and retail energy businesses have achieved record-setting levels of physical deliveries, contract originations and profitability," said Chairman and CEO Ken Lay. "We operate in some of the largest and fastest growing markets in the world, and we are very optimistic about the continued strong outlook for our company," Lay added. Enron, which has recently branched out beyond energy into fields such as broadband telecommunications and metals trading, said third-quarter revenues rose 154 percent to $30 billion compared with the same period of 1999. The company's stock has risen some 80 percent so far this year. Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Oct. 16, 2000, 10:35PM Arena-backers promote plan to group of Hispanic leaders By JANETTE RODRIGUES Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle Pro-arena forces did some direct marketing to the Hispanic community Monday, pitching the $175 million plan to a grass-roots group of Latino leaders. More than 150 community activists and leaders, precinct judges and civic-association members attended an informational meeting and get-out-the-vote rally for the Nov. 7 arena referendum. The rally was sponsored by the Let's Build It Together political action committee. "By having our Hispanic community come out in force for issues like this, it empowers us," said Celina Garza-Ridge, a Harris County-Houston Sports Authority director. "It's very important to be able to say the Hispanic community made a difference, and we are exactly in that position." George Postolos, the Houston Rockets' chief operating officer, said the team is actively courting the Hispanic community. The pro-arena committee, headed by former Reliant Energy Chairman Don Jordan, and Ken Lay, Enron chairman and chief executive officer, does not want a repeat of the 1999 referendum. Voters last November soundly defeated the previous arena proposal. The sports authority is a governmental body whose members are appointed by the city and county to oversee and develop sports venues. The Rockets made a 30-percent participation commitment, similar to the one made four years ago by the Houston Astros for Enron Field, to fairly share the new arena's design and construction jobs with minorities and women. The team also promised to distribute up to $50,000 a year in neighborhood improvement grants of up to $1,000 each to worthy grass-roots, nonprofit organizations and civic clubs in inner-city Houston. The new program targets the Hispanic community, Postolos said. The new arena plan is being endorsed by a cross-section of Latino leaders, including City Councilmen John Castillo and Gabriel Vasquez, state Rep. Mario Gallegos, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and others. Vasquez told meeting attendees that the city, and the Hispanic community, is getting more tangibles this time around. He said, "When you consider that our community will get 30 percent affirmative action, that our youth will be taken care of through youth outreach programs and our neighborhoods will be taken care of as well, this is a really good deal for Houston and this is a really good deal for the Hispanic community." Mercedes Alejandro, who represents Parents for Public Schools of Houston, heard the details of the plan for the first time. "It's good if it creates jobs for the community, and opportunities to rebuild the community," she said. "We want it to be good for the whole, not the few." Humberto Barrera, president of the Mexican American Sheriffs Organization, was critical of Hispanic leaders, not the arena plan. "I think Hispanic leaders should be more concerned about issues like pay raises for teachers, health care and public safety, than building arenas for rich entrepreneurs," Barrera said. Richard Torres, director and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, told attendees that the Rockets are committed to doing the right thing. Sergio Davila, president of the Eastwood Civic Association, brought up the lack of Latinos in leadership positions on the team's staff. Postolos acknowledged that the team needs to do better. TVA Says Enron Breach Of Power Sales Pact Cost $140 Mln By Bryan Lee 10/16/2000 Dow Jones Energy Service (Copyright (c) 2000, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.) OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The nation's top two power providers are battling in a U.S. court over an unexecuted power sales agreement. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) has filed a claim against the power marketing unit of Enron Corp. (ENE) alleging breach of a power sales contract. TVA cited the alleged breach of contract in documents provided to its distribution utility customers earlier this month outlining unforeseen expenses contributing to the government-owned utility's inability to meet its debt-reduction forecast. According to the documents, obtained by Dow Jones Newswires, the alleged breach of contract contributed to a $140 million shortfall during fiscal year 2000. TVA was initially reluctant to divulge information on the case, which is under a court protective order. "A major power provider elected not to perform under the contract," said David Smith, TVA's chief financial officer, when asked Friday to elaborate on the line item in the information provided to TVA's distribution utility customers. But after consulting with attorneys, Smith revealed that Enron was the subject of the claim. TVA alleged breach of contract after Enron sought a declaratory judgment order from the U.S. District Court in Chattanooga, Tenn., in February, stemming from a dispute over a long-term sales agreement, an Enron spokesman said Monday. In March, TVA filed a counter claim with the court alleging breach of contract, a TVA spokesman said Monday. But the two parties declined to discuss the terms of the contract, or to elaborate further on the dispute, citing the judge's protective order. TVA said Enron sought the court seal. The dispute is the latest example of bad blood between the Houston-based energy giant and TVA, a government-owned utility that ranks among the largest U.S. power producers. The relationship deteriorated after the two began squabbling over access to the lucrative U.S. Midwest power market, which saw extreme price spikes during hot weather in the summers of 1998 and 1999. After the summer of 1998 - in which power that typically sells for between $30 and $50 per megawatt-hour spiked as high as $7,000 per megawatt-hour - Enron cited a study showing that TVA's power grid represented the only unconstrained transmission pathways into the Midwest. TVA experienced an increase in revenues for the period when power prices were spiking upward. Enron built gas-fired peaking power plants with an eye toward capitalizing on the volatility in summer power markets by purchasing transmission access across TVA's system. After the summer of 1999 saw a repeat in extreme price volatility, Enron began complaining that TVA was unfairly denying transmission service by failing to act in a timely manner in response to transmission service requests. A TVA spokesman said the contract dispute was unrelated to the disagreement over the government utility's handling of transmission-access requests. But the filing of the court case occurred at the same time Enron went public with its complaints about TVA's transmission service. In February, Enron released a letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson asking for the government's help, charging that TVA was unfairly giving its own power marketer transmission service on a timely basis while Enron's requests were gathering dust. Enron later dropped the matter, saying that TVA was processing its transmission service requests on a timely basis. -By Bryan Lee, Dow Jones Newswires, 202-862-6647, bryan.lee@dowjones.com Copyright , 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.