Boston, MA 05/16/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) and Williams Partners announced the dividend and distribution guidance for 2016. The Group expects positive trends across all businesses and anticipates 20% growth in dividend through 2016.
Williams Partners expects annual distribution growth of 6% in 2014 and 2015 and 4.5% in 2016 with cash distribution coverage ratio of 0.97x in 2014, 1.03x in 2015 and 1.05x in 2016.
Business performance
Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) and its partners provide large-scale energy infrastructure to supply natural gas, natural gas products (NGPs) and crude oil across North America. The Group kept on delivering quality services for several years and improved its performance year over year.
Williams reported adjusted segment profit of $567 million versus $481 million in 1Q2013. The segment increase was due to the overwhelming performance across its businesses. Accordingly, it improved the adjusted EBITDA to $796 million (1Q2013: $699 million). Based on the operating earnings, the bottom line also improved with adjusted net income of $190 million or $0.28 per share (1Q2013: $152 million or $0.22 per share).
Strong financial position
Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE:WMB) expects to focus on new demand and new infrastructure with the volatility in commodity and natural gas prices to drive growth and provide a sustainable supply of energy. Therefore, the Group increased its operating guidance for 2014 with adjusted segment profit at a range of $2.2-$2.6 billion with diluted EPS $1.00-$1.20.
Williams and Williams Partners has a strong financial position with available liquidity of over $5 billion, including cash and cash equivalents of ~$1.1 billion and $4 billion of available credits as of March 31, 2014.
The Group also continues to invest and improve its infrastructure capability to enhance its services, so, it expects capital expenditure and investment of $3.8-$4.4 billion in 2014.
Conclusion
Based on the increasing operating efficiency in high growth market, the Group continues to create value to its shareholders with high dividend and increase in distribution.
