Sempra Energy Declares Dividends And Raises Annualized Common Stock Dividend For 10th Consecutive Year
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) today announced that its board of directors has declared a $1.045 per share quarterly dividend on the company's common stock, which is payable April 15, 2020, to common stock shareholders of record as of March 20, 2020. The declared quarterly dividend represents an 8% increase to the company's common stock dividend to $4.18 per share, on an annualized basis, from $3.87 per share in 2019. This is the 10th consecutive year that Sempra Energy has increased its common stock dividend. On average, the company has increased its dividend by more than 10% annually for the last decade. Sempra Energy's board of directors also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share on the company's 6% Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock, Series A. Additionally, the board of directors declared a quarterly dividend of $1.6875 per share on the company's 6.75% Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock, Series B. The preferred stock dividends will be payable April 15, 2020, to preferred stock shareholders of record as of April 1, 2020. About Sempra Energy This press release contains statements that are not historical fact and constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by words such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects," "forecasts," "contemplates," "assumes," "depends," "should," "could," "would," "will," "confident," "may," "can," "potential," "possible," "proposed," "target," "pursue," "outlook," "maintain," or similar expressions, or when we discuss our guidance, strategy, plans, goals, vision, mission, opportunities, projections, initiatives, objectives or intentions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Future results may differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. Factors, among others, that could cause our actual results and future actions to differ materially from those described in any forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties relating to: the greater degree and prevalence of wildfires in California in recent years and the risk that we may be found liable for damages regardless of fault, such as where inverse condemnation applies, and the risk that we may not be able to recover any such costs from insurance, the California wildfire fund or in rates from customers in California or otherwise; actions and the timing of actions, including decisions, investigations, new regulations and issuances of permits and other authorizations and renewal of franchises by the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), California Public Utilities Commission, U.S. Department of Energy, California Department of Conservation's Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Public Utility Commission of Texas, states, cities and counties, and other regulatory and governmental bodies in the U.S. and other countries in which we operate; the success of business development efforts, construction projects, and major acquisitions, divestitures and internal structural changes, including risks in (i) obtaining or maintaining authorizations; (ii) completing construction projects on schedule and budget; (iii) obtaining the consent of partners; (iv) counterparties' financial ability or otherwise to fulfill contractual commitments; (v) winning competitively bid infrastructure projects; (vi) the ability to complete contemplated acquisitions and/or divestitures and the disruptions caused by such efforts; and (vii) the ability to realize anticipated benefits from any of these efforts once completed; the resolution of civil and criminal litigation, regulatory investigations and proceedings, and arbitrations; actions by credit rating agencies to downgrade our credit ratings or those of our subsidiaries or to place those ratings on negative outlook and our ability to borrow at favorable interest rates; deviations from regulatory precedent or practice that result in a reallocation of benefits or burdens among shareholders and ratepayers; denial of approvals of proposed settlements; delays in, or denial of, regulatory agency authorizations to recover costs in rates from customers or regulatory agency approval for projects required to enhance safety and reliability; moves to reduce or eliminate reliance on natural gas; weather conditions, natural disasters, accidents, equipment failures, computer system outages, explosions, terrorist attacks and other events that disrupt our operations, damage our facilities and systems, cause the release of harmful materials, cause fires and subject us to third-party liability for property damage or personal injuries, fines and penalties, some of which may not be covered by insurance (including costs in excess of applicable policy limits), may be disputed by insurers or may otherwise not be recoverable through regulatory mechanisms or may impact our ability to obtain satisfactory levels of affordable insurance; the availability of electric power and natural gas and natural gas storage capacity, including disruptions caused by failures in the transmission grid, limitations on the withdrawal or injection of natural gas from or into storage facilities, and equipment failures; risks posed by actions of third parties who control the operations of our investments; cybersecurity threats to the energy grid, storage and pipeline infrastructure, the information and systems used to operate our businesses, and the confidentiality of our proprietary information and the personal information of our customers and employees; expropriation of assets, the failure to honor the terms of contracts by foreign governments and state-owned entities such as the CFE, and other property disputes; the impact at San Diego Gas & Electric Company on competitive customer rates and reliability of electric transmission and distribution systems due to the growth in distributed and local power generation and from possible departing retail load resulting from customers transferring to Direct Access and Community Choice Aggregation or other forms of distributed and local power generation and the potential risk of nonrecovery for stranded assets and contractual obligations; Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC's (Oncor) ability to eliminate or reduce its quarterly dividends due to regulatory capital requirements and other regulatory and governance commitments, including the determination by a majority of Oncor's independent directors or a minority member director to retain such amounts to meet future requirements; changes in capital markets, energy markets and economic conditions, including the availability of credit; and volatility in foreign currency exchange, interest and inflation rates and commodity prices and our ability to effectively hedge the risk of such volatility; changes in foreign and domestic trade policies and laws, including border tariffs and revisions to or replacement of international trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, that may increase our costs or impair our ability to resolve trade disputes; actions of activist shareholders, which could disrupt our operations by, among other things, requiring significant time by management and our board of directors; the impact of federal or state tax reform and our ability to mitigate adverse impacts; and other uncertainties, some of which may be difficult to predict and are beyond our control. These risks and uncertainties are further discussed in the reports that Sempra Energy has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These reports are available through the EDGAR system free-of-charge on the SEC's website, www.sec.gov, and on the company's website, www.sempra.com. Investors should not rely unduly on any forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forecasts or projections or other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Sempra South American Utilities, Sempra North American Infrastructure, Sempra LNG, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC (Oncor) and Infraestructura Energética Nova, S.A.B. de C.V. (IEnova) are not the same companies as the California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) or Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), and Sempra South American Utilities, Sempra North American Infrastructure, Sempra LNG, Sempra Mexico, Sempra Texas Utilities, Oncor and IEnova are not regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. [SRE-F] SOURCE Sempra Energy For further information: Media Contact: Kelli Mleczko, Sempra Energy, (877) 340-8875, media@sempra.com; Financial Contact: Adam Pierce, Sempra Energy, (877) 736-7727, investor@sempra.com
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