American Electric Power loss narrows in fourth quarter

<br>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ American Electric Power on Tuesday reported a narrower loss in the fourth quarter, hurt by lowered values for some operations being sold and losses from discontinued operations.

Tuesday, February 3rd 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) _ American Electric Power on Tuesday reported a narrower loss in the fourth quarter, hurt by lowered values for some operations being sold and losses from discontinued operations.

The giant power generator reported a loss of $762 million, or $1.93 per share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $837 million, or $2.47 per share, a year ago. Revenue fell to $3.3 billion from $3.5 billion.

The company recorded charges of $960 million for the fourth quarter that included the writedown in value of natural gas pipeline and storage operations in Louisiana and Texas and power generation operations in the United Kingdom. The operations are for sale.

Discounting the charges, the company recorded a profit of $156 million, or 40 cents a share, for the quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected earnings of 39 cents share.

For all of 2003, the company recorded a profit of $110 million, or 29 cents a share, compared with a loss of $519 million, of $1.57 per share, in 2002. Revenue increased to $14.5 billion from $13.3 billion.

Besides Ohio, the nation's largest power generator has about 5 million customers in Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia.