Entergy 2006 Annual Report Download - page 10

Imagine. Aspire. Achieve.
The legacy of 2005 and 2006 was not that
we proved we had achieved our aspirations
of operational excellence or financial
resilience. What we proved was as an
organization we are capable of more than
we might have ever imagined. The
adversity in the last two years was beyond
anything the industry has experienced.
The organization’s response was equally
unprecedented. As 2006 drew to a close,
we took a hard look at our aspirations. We
assessed our current position, evaluated
multiple scenarios using our dynamic
points of view on market conditions,
our stated strategies, our change in risk
profile and our experiences over the last
few years, and refined our aspirations.
Underlying our refined aspirations is
our timeless belief in the principles of
sustainable growth, the unlimited human
potential and basic human goodness.
The long-term success of our company
depends on our ability to ensure our
employees’ safety, meet our customers’
expectations, deliver superior returns to
our owners, conserve and protect our
environment and contribute to a healthy,
educated and productive society. It takes
steady progress along every dimension to
generate lasting growth and value. With
that in mind, our five-year aspirations for
2006 through 2010 are outlined below:
■We aspire to consistently deliver top-
quartile total shareholder returns.
We aspire to grow earnings per share by
$1.00 each year through 2010, earn
returns at or above our risk-adjusted
cost of capital and maintain solid
investment grade credit with flexibility
to manage risk and act on opportunities.
We aspire to return cash to our owners
through common stock repurchases of
up to $500 million each year and/or
dividends targeting a 60 percent payout
ratio over time.
At the end of 2006, we ended the
suspension of and completed our 2004-
2006 $1.5 billion common stock
repurchase program. In January 2007,
we announced a new $1.5 billion
common stock repurchase program to
be implemented over the next two years.
These actions were consistent with our
commitment to fairly compensate
those who provided capital for storm
restoration and those who made that
possible by continuing to believe in our
long-term value proposition and not
selling into a market when we were
issuing securities.
Regarding the dividend, no one needs
to remind us that the current level is well
below our 60 percent target and also well
below the average relative to our peers.
Your Board of Directors continues to be
disappointed that we believe it is still
premature to consider dividend action at
this time. I assure you, it is at the top of
our list when more certainty and clarity
is achieved on other initiatives.
■We aspire to provide clean,
reliable and affordable power
in our utility business.
We aspire to safe, efficient and effective
operations in all areas – generation,
transmission and distribution. Our
service area has unique operational and
economic challenges. We strive to
address these challenges while
continually improving customer
satisfaction, increasing productivity
and decreasing costs.
■We aspire to operate safe, secure
and vital nuclear resources in an
environment that is both growing
and carbon-constrained.
Safety and security come first in our
nuclear operations. After that, we
aspire to uninterrupted operations
and continuous improvement in
productivity. We are committed to
aggressively pursue opportunities to
expand our nuclear fleet more fully,
utilizing our talented and deeply
skilled workforce.
■We aspire to break the cycle of
poverty for our customers and
contribute to a society that is
healthy, educated and productive.
Our societal aspirations encompass our
communities, our employees and our
environment. No one should have to
choose between food and heat. We
strive to make our service as affordable
as possible. But we do not accept that as
the end of our responsibility. We strive
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“Entergy was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index – World,
the only company in the U.S. electricity sector to be so honored.”