Entergy 2004 Annual Report Download - page 10

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nthe last six years we have worked
hard to build an organization that can
supply clean, affordable electricity to
our customers, provide a safe, productive working
environment to our employees, and deliver
top-quartile returns to our shareholders over
the long term.
The choices we make as we operate our business
are guided by our long-term aspirations. For
example, we have consistently made investments in
assets that improve our customer service and
reliability, the safety of our operations, our impact
onthe environment, and our cost position. As a
result, we are in a strong position to grow our future
earnings the right way – by continuing to deliver
the most reliable, affordable service we can to
our customers.
While our past actions havebeen recognized, we
continually strive for more. Last year for the second
consecutive year, Entergy was recognized again. We
received the EdisonElectric Institute award in
recognition of the highest total shareholder return
over the last five years for large-cap electric
utilities. In addition, Don Hintz, former president
of Entergy and now a member of our Board
of Directors, received the Platts Lifetime
Achievement Award, marking the fourth Platts
Global Energy Award for our company.
Point-of-View Driven Actions
We made several decisions and took actions
consistent with our point of view of the markets for
retail and wholesale energy. Based on extensive
market analysis, we concluded that our energy
trading business – Entergy-Koch Trading – was
worth more to a financial entity than it was to us.
As a result, we sold EKT and Gulf South Pipeline
in two separate transactions that will produce total
cash proceeds to Entergy of more than $1 billion.
We also continued to harvest value from our non-
nuclear assets business with the January 2004 sale of
our interest in a natural gas-fired power plant located
in Crete, Illinois. Wesold a portionof three other
generating plants, resulting in lower operational
spending for this business.
In another point-of-viewdriven action, we
initiated a $1.5 billion stock repurchase program and
increased our annual dividend by 20 percent, from
$1.80 to $2.16 per share. Given our disciplined
approach to capital investments and strong cash
Entergy Corporation
Observant and Decisive
AWELL-INFORMED VIEW
s
Acute vision leads to a well-informed point of view. We use deep market knowledge and
sophisticated analysis to develop our points of view.It’s a dynamic process – we adapt as market conditions
change – and it results in clear decision-making. The best example in 2004? Our decision to maximize
shareholder return through the sale of Entergy-Koch Trading and Gulf South Pipeline.
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Entergy Corporation and Subsidiaries 2004
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