Here are some reasons to learn more about PPL:

Commitment:

PPL Corporation strives to balance our commitment to our customers, our communities and our environment. But we also understand that each business decision must ultimately build a foundation for shareowner value.

Yes, the marketplace has changed dramatically. The 1990s saw an end to the traditional electric utility. In this exciting new era of competition, PPL has positioned itself to take advantage of new opportunities in both the regulated and deregulated industry. Our corporate strategies emphasize growth in shareowner value through expansion into new markets and the offering of new energy-related products and service.

Performance:

• Closing the year with a strong fourth quarter, PPL announced full-year earnings for 2009 that tracked well ahead of the company’s reported and ongoing earnings forecasts. 

• PPL’s reported earnings for 2009 were $1.08 per share, compared with $2.47 per share a year ago. Adjusting for special items, PPL’s earnings from ongoing operations for 2009 were $1.95 per share, compared with $2.02 per share for 2008. 

• For the fourth quarter of 2009, PPL announced reported earnings of $0.40 per share, compared with $0.74 per share a year ago. Adjusting for special items, PPL’s earnings from ongoing operations for the fourth quarter of 2009 were $0.52 per share, compared with $0.46 per share a year ago.

• “Our performance this past year speaks volumes about the dedication of our people, the quality of our assets and our overall business model,” said James H. Miller, PPL’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Higher wholesale energy margins, solid operating performance and early cost-reduction initiatives enabled us to deliver very sound results in 2009 ― outperforming the challenging business plan that we put in place.”

• Miller highlighted some significant 2009 accomplishments: generation records at certain power plants in Pennsylvania and Montana; successful transition to market-based generation prices in Pennsylvania for 2010 and beyond; 20-year extensions of the operating licenses for both units at PPL’s Susquehanna nuclear plant; recognition of PPL’s strong operating performance by the U.K. regulator in a rate review for the next five-year period; decisions to move ahead with major hydroelectric expansions in Pennsylvania and Montana; and the on-time and under-budget installation of major emission-control equipment at one of PPL’s large coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania.

• PPL’s 2009 reported earnings included total net special item charges of $0.87 per share, compared with total net special item credits of $0.45 per share in 2008. The major special item charge in 2009 was $0.59 per share for energy-related economic activity, primarily resulting from the reversal in 2009 of hedge ineffectiveness gains recorded in 2008.

• Adjusting for special items, PPL’s 2009 earnings from ongoing operations declined by approximately 3 percent, compared with 2008 results, due primarily to less favorable currency exchange rates in its international delivery business segment and lower margins in its Pennsylvania delivery segment. Partially offsetting these earnings declines were higher wholesale energy margins in PPL’s supply business segment in both the eastern and western U.S.

• For the fourth quarter of 2009, PPL announced reported earnings of $0.40 per share, a 46 percent decline compared with a year ago. Reported earnings for the current quarter included net special item charges totaling $0.12 per share, compared with net special item credits totaling $0.28 per share a year ago.

• Adjusting for special items, PPL’s fourth-quarter 2009 earnings from ongoing operations were $0.52 per share, a 13 percent increase over a year ago. This quarterly increase was primarily due to higher wholesale energy margins in the supply business segment in both the eastern and western U.S. and higher electricity delivery margins and lower U.S. income taxes in the international delivery business segment. 

“Earnings from ongoing operations” should not be considered as an alternative to reported earnings, or net income attributable to PPL, which is an indicator of operating performance determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). PPL believes that “earnings from ongoing operations,” although a non-GAAP financial measure, is also useful and meaningful to investors because it provides them with management’s view of PPL’s fundamental earnings performance as another criterion in making their investment decisions. PPL’s management also uses “earnings from ongoing operations” in measuring certain corporate performance goals. Other companies may use different measures to present financial performance.

“Earnings from ongoing operations” is adjusted for the impact of special items. Special items include:

• The impact of energy-related economic activity.
• Foreign currency-related economic hedges.
• The impact of sales of assets not in the ordinary course of business.
• Impairment charges (including impairments of securities in the company’s nuclear decommissioning trust).
• Workforce reduction and other restructuring impacts.
• Other charges or credits that are, in management’s view, not reflective of the company’s ongoing operations. 

For more information, contact PPL Investor Services at 1-800-345-3085.