Semco, Enstar’s parent, loss widens in quarter

Allen Baker

Semco Energy, the parent company of Alaska’s Enstar, reported a net loss of $6.6 million for the third quarter, compared with a loss of $4.7 million in the same quarter of 2000. Temperatures in Enstar’s service area in Alaska were 5 percent warmer than normal in the third quarter, but that was balanced out by cooler-than normal conditions in Michigan, where the company also sells gas.

Nevertheless, the gas distribution business swung from a $1.1 million operating profit in the 2000 quarter to a $2.2 million operating loss in the third quarter of this year. The company bought gas with a higher thermal content this year, the company said, and there was more unaccounted-for gas.

The Farmington Hills, Mich., company’s other major division, engineering and construction services, had operating income of $3.4 million, down a bit from $3.5 million in the 2000 quarter. Minor amounts came from Semco’s propane and information technology segments.

Revenues rose to $80.8 million from $70.3 million, a gain of 15 percent.

In conjunction with its earnings, Semco’s management under new president Marcus Jackson announced the company was restructuring some of its businesses, including divestiture of the engineering services sector.