Summary
Southern Company (SO) filed an 8-K on October 23, 2008, to report its financial results for the periods ended September 30, 2008. The filing highlights the company's earnings and earnings per share (EPS) for both the third quarter and the first nine months of the year. Key to this report is the company's discussion of non-GAAP financial measures. Southern Company provided EPS figures both on a GAAP basis and on an adjusted basis, excluding certain significant charges and discontinued operations. Specifically, the company detailed a charge related to the application of FASB Interpretation No. 48 concerning income tax uncertainties on leveraged leases, and also excluded results from its now-ended synthetic fuel investments. Management uses these adjusted figures to assess ongoing business performance and believes they offer valuable comparative information to investors, though they are not a substitute for GAAP reporting.
Key Highlights
- 1Southern Company reported its financial results for the third quarter and the first nine months of 2008.
- 2The 8-K filing includes a press release and supplementary financial information as exhibits.
- 3The company presented both GAAP and non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share figures.
- 4Adjusted EPS excludes a significant charge related to the application of FASB Interpretation No. 48 for leveraged lease tax uncertainties.
- 5Adjusted EPS also excludes the results from Southern Company's synthetic fuel investments, which concluded at the end of 2007.
- 6Management uses these adjusted non-GAAP measures to evaluate ongoing business performance.
- 7The filing is a combined report furnished by Southern Company and its subsidiaries: Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power, and Southern Power.