News Details

HONOLULU--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HE) today reported second quarter 2010 consolidated net income for common stock of $29.3 million, or $0.31 diluted earnings per share (EPS), compared to $15.5 million, or $0.17 diluted EPS for the second quarter of 2009.

“Lower credit costs and lower operating expenses at our banking operations were mainly responsible for the improvement in our second quarter results,” said Constance H. Lau, HEI president and chief executive officer.

“At the utility, we are seeing modest recovery from a long period of under earning our authorized rates of return. Rate relief granted over the last year was largely offset by higher operation, maintenance, financing and depreciation expenses,” said Lau.

“At the bank, we are excited to have completed the last major component of the performance improvement project with the successful conversion of our data processing systems in the second quarter. We continue to see the benefits of this project in our reported results and are pleased to report a solid return on assets of 1.32% for the second quarter,” Lau added.

UTILITY

Electric utility net income for common stock for the second quarter of 2010 was $17.6 million compared to $15.5 million in the second quarter of 2009. The primary drivers were rate relief granted in our 2009 rate case on Oahu of $10 million (after tax) as well as savings from fuel efficiency. The primary offsets (after tax) were: (1) $6 million higher operations and maintenance (O&M) expenses, excluding demand-side management (DSM) program costs¹; and (2) $6 million higher financing costs and depreciation expense primarily due to generating units put into service in the latter part of 2009.

Kilowatthour sales were down 1.1% compared with the same quarter last year due to slightly warmer than normal weather in the second quarter of 2009. Subsequent to our original forecast of a 0.9% decrease in 2010 sales relative to 2009, our outlook for the economy has improved and we now expect 2010 sales to be approximately flat when compared to 2009.

O&M expenses were up 11%² over the same quarter last year. This increase was driven primarily by higher retirement costs and operating costs for the new biofuel generating plant which commenced service in the latter part of 2009. The actual year-to-date O&M increase of 9%² was lower than our estimate of a 16%² increase for the year primarily due to timing of expenditures. O&M expenses for the year are now expected to be slightly lower than the 16%² increase originally estimated.

BANK

Bank net income for the second quarter of 2010 was $16.1 million, compared to $4.0 million for the same quarter last year and $13.7 million in the first quarter of 2010.

The primary drivers for the $12.1 million increase in net income over the same quarter last year were (on an after-tax basis): (1) lower provision for loan losses of $8 million, largely due to an unusually high provision expense in the second quarter of 2009 resulting from the partial charge-off of a large commercial loan; (2) higher noninterest income of $3 million due to the second quarter 2009 other-than-temporary impairment charge of $3 million on mortgage-related securities that were later sold in the fourth quarter of 2009; and (3) lower noninterest expense of $3 million resulting from the FDIC special assessment in the second quarter of 2009 and cost-savings derived from the performance improvement project in 2010. These increases were partially offset by lower net interest income of $2 million (after tax) primarily due to lower earning asset balances and lower yields on investments partially offset by lower interest expense on certificates of deposit.

The primary drivers contributing to the $2.4 million after-tax increase over the first quarter 2010 results were (on an after-tax basis) lower provision for loan losses of $3 million partially offset by higher noninterest expense of $1 million including higher one-time FISERV conversion costs of $1 million.

Net interest margin was 4.22% in the second quarter of 2010, compared with 4.16% in the second quarter of 2009 and 4.18% in the first quarter of 2010. Net interest margin benefited from lower funding costs which more than offset lower yields on earning assets.

Provision for loan losses was $1.0 million in the second quarter of 2010 which was $12.5 million lower than the second quarter of 2009 and $4.4 million lower than the first quarter of 2010. The provision in the second quarter of 2010 reflected approximately $2.4 million of loan loss reserves that were released in the second quarter due to: (1) a commercial loan that was sold during the quarter; and (2) a commercial real estate construction loan for a project that was successfully completed and fully leased and thus went from a higher risk to a lower risk loan classification. In contrast, the provision expense in the second quarter of 2009 was elevated due to $5 million of provision for loan losses related to a partial charge-off of a single commercial loan. The second quarter 2010 net charge-off ratio remains low at 0.57% annualized compared to the full year 2009 ratio of 0.66%.

Noninterest expense for the second quarter of 2010 was $39.6 million, compared to $44.4 million in the second quarter of 2009 and $38.0 million in the first quarter of 2010. On an adjusted basis³, noninterest expense was $2 million lower compared to the same quarter last year due to cost reductions, and it was level with the first quarter of 2010. The bank’s annualized noninterest expense for the second quarter of 2010 was $159 million; on an adjusted basis³ it was $147 million. The bank remains on track to meet its target of $140 to $145 million of annualized noninterest expense by the end of 2010.

HOLDING AND OTHER COMPANIES

The holding and other companies’ net losses were $4.5 million in the second quarter of 2010 compared to $4.0 million in the second quarter of 2009 reflecting higher general and administrative expenses and higher borrowing costs.

WEBCAST AND TELECONFERENCE

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. will conduct a webcast and teleconference call to review its second quarter 2010 earnings on Tuesday, August 10, 2010, at 8:00 a.m.Hawaii time (2:00 p.m. Eastern time). The event can be accessed through HEI’s website at www.hei.com or by dialing (866) 730-5768, passcode: 11930283 for the teleconference call. HEI intends to continue to use its website, www.hei.com, as a means of disclosing material and other important information and for complying with its disclosure obligations under SEC Regulation FD. Such disclosures will be included on HEI’s website under the headings “News & Events” and “Financial Information” in the Investor Relations section. Accordingly, investors should routinely monitor such portions of HEI’s website, in addition to following HEI’s, HECO’s and ASB’s press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. Investors should also refer to the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Hawaii (PUC) website at dms.puc.hawaii.gov/dms in order to review documents filed with and issued by the PUC.

An online replay of the webcast will be available at the same website beginning about two hours after the event. Replays of the teleconference call will also be available approximately two hours after the event through August 24, 2010, by dialing (888) 286-8010, passcode: 42345741.

HEI supplies power to over 400,000 customers or 95% of Hawaii’s population through its electric utilities, Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., Hawaii Electric Light Company, Inc. and Maui Electric Company, Limited and provides a wide array of banking and other financial services to consumers and businesses through American Savings Bank, F.S.B., one of Hawaii’s largest financial institutions.

EXPLANATION OF HEI’S USE OF CERTAIN UNAUDITED NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES

HEI and bank management use certain non-GAAP measures in their evaluation of the bank’s performance and believe the presentations of such financial measures on this basis provide useful supplemental information and a clearer picture of the bank’s operating performance, and are better indicators of the bank’s ongoing core operating activities. Management also uses such measures to assist investors/analysts in better understanding the bank’s progress on the execution of its performance improvement project. These measures are also useful in understanding performance trends and in facilitating comparisons with the performance of others in the financial services industry.

Management utilizes non-GAAP financial measures of noninterest income and expense in the calculation of certain of the bank’s metrics/ratios, such as (i) efficiency, (ii) pretax, preprovision income, and (iii) return on average assets, in order to analyze on a consistent basis and over a longer period of time the performance of the bank’s core operating activities and its progress on the execution of the performance improvement project. Management also annualizes the non-GAAP measure of noninterest expense by multiplying such measure by 4 to develop an estimate of adjusted noninterest expense for a year-long period. This annualized adjusted noninterest expense metric (non-GAAP measure) is a forward-looking statement based on only a quarter’s results and may not reflect actual results. See schedule on page 18 of this release for a tabular reconciliation between the bank’s GAAP and non-GAAP measures.

Certain items shown in the reconciliation—real estate transactions, professional services, FISERV conversion costs, severance, technology write-offs and prepayment penalties on early extinguishment of debt—were incurred pursuant to the bank management’s performance improvement project which was announced in June 2008 and was substantially completed this quarter. These costs were incurred with the objective of increasing the bank’s operating efficiency and profitability in the long term. Accordingly, bank management believes that these costs were temporarily elevated while the performance improvement project was being executed and will be largely eliminated going forward from this quarter.

Management also adjusts noninterest expense to exclude a special assessment levied by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in the second quarter of 2009 pursuant to the FDIC’s plan to recapitalize the deposit insurance fund. Bank management believes that it is unlikely that this type of special assessment would recur on a regular basis and impacts the comparability of noninterest expense between periods.

Reported noninterest income is being adjusted by a gain on sale of a commercial loan, gain on sale of other assets and other nonrecurring income items. Bank management believes that it would not be appropriate to assume that the bank would realize material gains of this type on a quarterly basis.

Likewise, bank management also adds back to noninterest income charges related to the other-than-temporary impairment (OTTI) of private-issue mortgage-related securities (PMRS) because of the material nature of the charge, the inconsistency of when those charges occurred and the elimination of the PMRS portfolio in the fourth quarter of 2009. The bank incurred material OTTI in the second and third quarters of 2009, impacting the comparability of noninterest income for those quarters. Management believes that adjusting noninterest income to exclude the effects of OTTI helps the comparability of noninterest income quarter to quarter and quarter over quarter.

In addition, management adjusts noninterest income for net gains (losses) on sales of certain securities including the fourth quarter 2009 loss on the liquidation of the PMRS portfolio because management believes that such transactions are unlikely to recur on a regular basis and impacts the comparability of noninterest income between periods.

Limitations associated with utilizing non-GAAP measures are the risks of disagreement over the appropriateness of adjustments comprising these measures and the risk that other companies might calculate these measures differently. Management addresses these limitations by providing detailed reconciliations between GAAP information and non-GAAP measures. See reconciliation on page 18.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This release may contain “forward-looking statements,” which include statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and usually include words such as expects, anticipates, intends, plans, believes, predicts, estimates or similar expressions. In addition, any statements concerning future financial performance (including future revenues, expenses, earnings or losses or growth rates), ongoing business strategies or prospects and possible future actions, which may be provided by management, are also forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions about HEI and its subsidiaries, the performance of the industries in which they do business and economic and market factors, among other things. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance.

Forward-looking statements in this release should be read in conjunction with the “Forward-Looking Statements” discussion (which is incorporated by reference herein) set forth on pages iv and v of HEI's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, and in HEI’s future periodic reports that discuss important factors that could cause HEI’s results to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release.

¹ DSM program costs were $9 million in the second quarter of 2009 and nil in the second quarter of 2010. DSM program costs are recovered through a surcharge. The energy efficiency DSM programs were transferred to a third-party administrator at the end of the second quarter of 2009.

² Excludes DSM program costs described in footnote 1 above.

³ Refer to page 18 of the accompanying schedules of this release for a reconciliation of noninterest income and expense based on U.S. generally accepted accounting principles to adjusted noninterest income and expense, and the resulting annualized amounts.

Source: Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.

Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.

Shelee M.T. Kimura, 808-543-7384

Manager, Investor Relations &

Strategic Planning

skimura@hei.com