Five quarters' earnings restated by FirstEnergy

8/21/2003

FirstEnergy Corp., parent of Toledo Edison Co., has restated its earnings for 2001 and for the first quarter of this year — cutting previously announced profits by a total of $99 million.

The restatement, because of costs involving the firm's 2001 acquisition of GPU Inc., lowers first-quarter profit by $22.5 million, or 8 cents a share, to $218.5 million, or 74 cents a share. It cut earnings for 2002 by $76.5 million, or 26 cents a share, to $552.8 million, or $1.89 a share.

But FirstEnergy — which has said it also plans to restate earnings for 2000 and 2001 — said the accounting changes will result in a profit increase of $381 million in future years. FirstEnergy's stock closed at $29.19, up $1.23 per share, in New York Stock Exchange trading yesterday, on volume of 6.7 million shares, four times normal. Its share price is still 24 percent below its recent high of $38.50 in early July.