NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG) reported Thursday that it swung to a first-quarter loss of $260 million, or $1.06 a share, from a profit of $58 million, or 22 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. The latest results included a charge of $481 million related to NRG's impairment of all of the net assets of Nuclear Innovation North America, the company's joint venture with Toshiba American Nuclear Energy Corp. Total operating revenues declined to $2 billion from $2.22 billion. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of 11 cents per share on revenue of $2.31 billion.
"The impact of the tragic events in Japan on STP 3&4 have drawn attention away from the strong operational performance we achieved on both the generation and the retail side of our businesses during the first quarter, surmounting both the normal winter challenges and the extraordinary weather events which occurred in Texas in early February," commented David Crane, NRG President and Chief Executive Officer. "During the quarter we made significant strides, in particular, on our solar development program with financing completed and construction begun on some of our biggest projects, positioning NRG to become the largest owner and operator of solar generation in the United States in the near term."
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