|
| |
|
June
1, 2005
 |
Stender reviews an eventful year; Shippar outlines strategic
transformation of ALLETE at annual meeting of shareholders
President and CEO Don Shippar outlined ALLETE business strategy for the future and Chairman Bruce Stender spoke about the eventful past year and the company’s commitment to ethics at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders May 10 in Duluth.
About 1,300 shareholders attended the hour-long meeting at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. They joined ALLETE directors and executives for lunch afterwards in the DECC ’s Lake Superior Ballroom.
During the business portion of the meeting, shareholders voting by proxy passed three measures: 1. they elected a board of nine directors for the ensuing year; 2. they appointed PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company’s independent auditors for 2005; and, 3. they approved continuation of the ALLETE Executive Long-Term Incentive Compensation Plan.
Approximately 26 million shares were voted by proxy. All nine directors received more than 96 percent approval, and shareholders also approved the two other ballot questions by wide margins. |
Mark Moberg of BNI Coal, left, talks with ALLETE retiree Chuck Pleski prior to the annual meeting. A model of BNI’s new dragline, ‘Liberty,’ was displayed in the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center lobby. |
| Stender led shareholders through the significant corporate events that have occurred since last May’s annual meeting, from the Initial Public Offering of ADESA stock on June 16, 2004 through the ADESA spin-off and ALLETE reverse stock split last Sept. 20.
“It’s clear that the marketplace approves of the decision,” Stender said. He referred to a projected illustration showing ALLETE’s Total Shareholder Return increasing 46 percent since the spin-off and ADESA’s return up 51 percent. Stender noted the board increased the common stock dividend by 5 percent April 29, and he pointed out that the percentage of earnings ALLETE pays out in dividends is higher now than it was in 2003.
ALLETE President and CEO Don Shippar
“We are at a very important moment in the history of this company,” Stender told the shareholders. “We believe it’s a very good time to be an investor of ALLETE.” He said leaders of the company have had a good instinct for making sound decisions at the right time. As examples, he listed the company’s investment in automotive auctions, its leadership in building what is now the Stora Enso paper mill in Duluth, the purchase and sale of water utilities in the southeast and the acquisition of land in Flagler County, Fla. – recently named the fastest growing county in the United States.
Shippar continued the diversification theme during his prepared remarks, which focused on the company’s newly developed strategy, “Transforming Our Future.” One component of the plan is to seek out strategic opportunities for growth, both within the core areas of energy and real estate and outside of them.
“With wise diversification, we can shelter ALLETE’s assets from the chilling effects of a downward industrial cycle,” Shippar said. “We have demonstrated the ability to thrive in new environments, and we plan to do it again.” To close his speech, Shippar spoke of the company’s commitment to education. “Remind the young people in your lives that good citizenship is an important value for companies as well as for people,” he said. “And please let them know we’re on the lookout of a new generation of ALLETE employees — and ALLETE investors.” |
|
Dear Shareholder |
 Nearly halfway through 2005, we’re on track to increase our earnings from continuing operations by 45 percent to 50 percent, excluding a second quarter charge to exit the Kendall County, Ill. power purchase agreement and any earnings we make from growth initiatives.
Our exit from the Kendall County agreement to purchase gas-fired generation from a plant south of Chicago will eliminate ongoing losses of approximately $8 million per year, after tax. And it supports our strategic decision to withdraw from the merchant power business in areas outside our region.
We have developed a blueprint to guide growth in our core business segments – energy and real estate – and to uncover strategic opportunities in new areas. We’re in a stronger financial position due to debt repayment and refinancing, and we have demonstrated the ability to successfully diversify in the past. A group of senior managers dedicated to exploring new options for growth is at work analyzing the possibilities.
Here’s wishing you a wonderful summer. Thanks again for your investment in ALLETE.
Sincerely,
Don Shippar
Chief Executive Officer
|
|
|
Two new wind energy projects on
Minnesota Power’s horizon
ALLETE President and CEO Don Shippar announced at the annual meeting
that the company is pursuing two wind energy projects, one in North
Dakota and one on Minnesota’s Iron Range.
Shippar said ALLETE’s Minnesota Power plans to purchase 50 megawatts of renewable wind power produced at a new wind farm to be built in North Dakota. He said the company is in the final stages of negotiating contract details with the project developer.
The project would involve the construction of 33 new wind turbines that would be linked to a Square Butte Electric Cooperative substation in Center, N.D. near ALLETE’s BNI Coal mine.
ALLETE is also pursuing a second new wind farm that would be located on the Iron Range, Shippar said. The Range project, expected to be operational in 2006, would be similar in size to the North Dakota project.
Both projects are subject to final contract execution and regulatory approvals.
The projects will add approximately four percent to Minnesota Power’s portfolio of existing renewable resources, Shippar said, and “represent the kind of creative thinking it will take to meet the energy needs of the next decade and to meet the growth profile we expect from ALLETE.”
|
|
|
|
 |
Agreements will bring retail developments to Town Center
Palm Coast, Fla. – A subsidiary of ALLETE Properties has signed development
agreements with two firms to bring national retailers, entertainment
and restaurants to the Town Center at Palm Coast project.
Palm Coast Holdings Inc., developer of Town Center at Palm Coast,
signed an agreement with Developers Realty Corporation of West Hartford,
Conn., to develop restaurants and retail stores at two Town Center
sites. The company owns and operates 30 successful shopping centers in 10
states, and is currently developing three new centers in Florida.
Developers Realty will bring both medium and large size national retailers
along with national restaurant franchises to Town Center, as well as new
businesses on the multiple out parcels, according to Dave Lusby, vice president
of Palm Coast Holdings, an ALLETE company.
Lusby said Epic Theatres, Inc., a privately held motion picture theater operator
based in DeLand, Fla., will work with Developers Realty to bring a
14-screen movie theater to Town Center. |
|
 |
Buy ALLETE stock and reinvest
dividends without a broker |
ALLETE investors who have exchanged their certificated shares for participation in the direct registration system (DRS) can easily add to their investment without incurring any brokerage fees.
Additional shares can be bought through ALLETE’s Direct Stock Purchase and Dividend Reinvestment Plan. As always, dividends may be reinvested or paid in cash. For more information about this easy-to-use program, call ALLETE Shareholder Services at 800-535-3056 or 218-723-3974.
|
|
|
The
statements contained in this newsletter and statements that
ALLETE may make orally in connection with this newsletter
that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements.
Actual results may differ materially from those projected
in the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties and investors are directed
to the risks discussed in documents filed by ALLETE with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. |
Shareholder Services ALLETE • 30 West Superior Street • Duluth, MN 55802-2093
• 218-723-3974 or 1-800-535-3056
E-mail: shareholder@ALLETE.com |
|
|
