Atmos Energy 1997 Annual Report Download - page 11

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Strategy: Building on the past ...
focusing on the future. Robert W. Best joined Atmos Energy
Corporation as chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer on March 8, 1997. Best has more
than 23 years of experience in the distribution and transmission industry. Prior to joining Atmos, he was
senior vice president – regulated businesses for Consolidated Natural Gas Company of Pittsburgh, Pa.,
responsible for the transmission and distribution companies.
Describe Atmos today.
BEST: Atmos has been an extremely successful company.
This is shown in the company’s financial performance and its
outstanding customer growth. Over the last 10 years, our
returns to shareholders have been among the best in the
industry, and we believe that investors perceive Atmos as
a company with considerable growth opportunity.
Just 15 years ago, Atmos started with 280,000 customers
in West Texas. Today, Atmos is a regional distribution
company with about 1 million utility customers in 12
states. The company is the 12th largest natural gas utility
in the country based on number of customers and the fifth
largest pure natural gas utility. We primarily serve small
urban and rural areas across a vast geographic area, so
we have diversity in economic conditions, regulatory
climates, weather patterns and markets. Our five operating
divisions have strong identities in the communities they
serve. We have some of the lowest rates in the country
because we are an extremely efficient provider of service,
we have a lower plant investment than many of our peers,
and we also capitalize on the economies of scale due to our
size and shared services philosophy. We have successfully
made acquisitions of other natural gas distribution properties
without delays, undue expense or damage to local brand
equity. The merger with United Cities this year brought us
additional non-utility opportunities with propane and whole-
sale natural gas marketing.
How do you expect to sustain this track
record of performance in the future?
We are going to build upon our past successes and to
focus on the best ways to be a winner in the future, in a
changing environment. Our senior management team has
spent considerable time this year analyzing the company’s
strengths, what the environment is likely to be in the next
few years and the course of action we should pursue to
continue to create value for our shareholders. We will
focus on four initiatives.
First, we plan to run our utility operations exceptionally
well. This means remaining customer focused and deliver-
ing high quality, reliable service at a low cost. We also will
continue working to increase the number of customers
served in our existing service areas, manage our costs and
expenses carefully, and work to establish incentive rate
structures in every jurisdiction possible.
Gross Profit
93 $289,394
94 $297,020
95 $300,158
96 $324,412
97 $329,654
93 94 95 96 97
6