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NICOR Inc
05-Sep-10•
NYSE Symbol
GAS
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In S&P 500
Business Summary CORPORATE OVERVIEW. Nicor Inc. is a holding company, whose principal subsidiaries are Northern Illinois Gas Company (doing business as Nicor Gas Company ), one of the nation's largest distributors of natural gas, and Tropical Shipping, a transporter of containerized freight in the Bahamas and the Caribbean region. Nicor also owns several energy-related ventures, including Nicor Services and Nicor Solutions, which provide energy-related products and services to retail markets, and Nicor Enerchange, a wholesale natural gas marketing company. PRIMARY BUSINESS DYNAMICS. Nicor seeks earnings growth through investment in unregulated operations, including its Tropical Shipping and Other Energy Ventures segments. However, the company's main operating segment remains its regulated gas utility operations. As of the end of 2009, Nicor Gas (68% of 2009 segment operating profits) served 2.2 million customers in a service area that covers most of northern Illinois, excluding Chicago. In 2009, gas deliveries fell to 475.9 billion cubic feet (Bcf), from 498.1 Bcf in 2008. The company has an extensive storage and transmission system that is directly connected to eight interstate pipelines, and includes eight owned underground gas storage facilities, with about 150 Bcf of annual storage capacity. In addition, Nicor Gas has about 40 Bcf of purchased storage from an affiliated party under contracts that expire between 2012 and 2013. Nicor Gas also operates the Chicago Hub, which provides natural gas storage and transmission-related services to marketers and other gas distribution companies, but revenues are passed on directly to Nicor Gas's customers. GAS's Tropical Shipping unit (13%) is one of the largest containerized cargo carriers in the Caribbean, with a fleet of 11 owned and four chartered vessels, with total container capacity of about 5,270 20-foot equivalent units (TEU), serving 25 ports. Total volumes shipped in 2009 were 176,600 TEU, down from 197,100 TEU in 2008 and 206,600 TEU in 2007. However, revenues per TEU remained relatively steady at $1,997 in 2009, versus $2,158 in 2008 and $1,955 in 2007. Company Fact Sheet
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