TC ENERGY NET INCOME $982 MLN

TC ENERGY - CALGARY, Alberta, July 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — TC Energy Corporation (TSX, NYSE: TRP) (TC Energy or the Company) today announced net income attributable to common shares for second quarter 2021 of $982 million or $1.00 per share compared to net income of $1.3 billion or $1.36 per share for the same period in 2020. Comparable earnings for second quarter 2021 were $1.0 billion or $1.07 per common share compared to $863 million or $0.92 per common share in 2020. TC Energy's Board of Directors also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per common share for the quarter ending September 30, 2021, equivalent to $3.48 per common share on an annualized basis. 

"During the first half of 2021, our diversified portfolio of critical energy infrastructure assets continued to safely and reliably meet North America's growing demand for energy," said François Poirier, TC Energy’s President and Chief Executive Officer. "Comparable earnings of $2.23 per common share and comparable funds generated from operations of $3.8 billion in the first six months of the year reflect the utility-like nature of our business along with the consistently strong performance of our legacy assets and contributions from projects that entered service in 2020."

Our results are underpinned by strong demand for our services together with a constant focus on operational excellence. Flows and utilization levels across our network continue to be in line with historical norms despite the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, extreme weather events and energy market volatility. Once again, this highlights the vital role our infrastructure plays in the functioning of the North American economy and the well-being of millions of people across the continent. Given the solid start to the year, we continue to expect full-year 2021 comparable earnings to be generally consistent with last year's record results.

"We are advancing a $21 billion secured capital program and working on a substantive portfolio of other similarly high-quality opportunities under development," continued Poirier. "Importantly, all of our secured capital projects are underpinned by long-term contracts and/or regulated business models highlighting the fundamental need for this critical new infrastructure while at the same time giving us visibility to the earnings and cash flow they will generate as they enter service in the coming years. Through prudent financial management, we are poised to effectively self-fund our growth program through our internally generated cash flow and debt capacity."

Looking beyond our current suite of projects, we are well positioned to capture future growth prospects associated with our extensive asset footprint and deep organizational capabilities as well as others that arise as the world both consumes more energy and transitions to a cleaner energy future. Today we announced that, subject to customary conditions precedent and regulatory approvals, we have sanctioned the VR project on our Columbia Gas system. This project represents an approximate US$0.7 billion capital investment and, among other elements, includes the installation of electric compression which will reduce direct carbon dioxide equivalent emissions while addressing growing market demand by providing additional transportation services under long-term contracts. We are exploring other opportunities to electrify and use renewable energy to power certain of the Company's proprietary energy loads, with the goal of a net reduction in emissions across our footprint. Bruce Power also continues to progress its multi-billion dollar life extension program, a source of significant emission-less power in Ontario, and we recently announced an initiative to jointly develop, along with Pembina Pipeline Corporation (Pembina), a carbon transportation and sequestration system for Alberta-based industries to manage their emissions and contribute to a lower-carbon economy.

In all our operations and projects, we remain focused on managing and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and building constructive, enduring relationships with our communities and stakeholders. We believe our creativity, technical strength and unparalleled market connectivity provide us the ability to prosper regardless of the pace and form of energy transition. Success in advancing our current slate of secured projects and other organic growth opportunities is expected to support annual dividend growth of five to seven per cent in this historically low-interest rate environment.

Highlights

(All financial figures are unaudited and in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted)

• Second quarter 2021 financial resultsDeclared a quarterly dividend of $0.87 per common share for the quarter ending September 30, 2021
  • Net income attributable to common shares of $982 million or $1.00 per common share
  • Comparable earnings of $1.0 billion or $1.07 per common share
  • Comparable EBITDA of $2.2 billion
  • Net cash provided by operations of $1.7 billion
  • Comparable funds generated from operations of $1.8 billion
• Continued to advance our $21 billion secured capital program by investing $1.4 billion in various growth projects during the second quarter
• Sanctioned the VR project, an approximate US$0.7 billion enhancement project on our Columbia Gas system to improve reliability and lower emissions
• Columbia Gas notified FERC on July 28 that it has reached a settlement-in-principle with its customers addressing all remaining issues related to its Section 4 Rate Case filing
• Announced a partnership with Pembina to jointly develop a carbon transportation and sequestration system in Alberta
• Issued Requests for Information (RFI) seeking to identify potential wind, solar and energy storage projects and/or investment opportunities to meet the electricity needs of a portion of our U.S. pipeline assets
• Recognized $1.1 billion in the Consolidated statement of equity principally from the repurchase of partner interests in Keystone XL, retirement of its non-recourse project-level credit facility and issuance of Class C Interests, partially offsetting the $2.2 billion after-tax impairment charge recorded in first quarter 2021
• Issued $750 million of three-year floating-rate Medium Term Notes, $500 million of 10-year fixed-rate Medium Term Notes and $250 million of 26-year fixed-rate Medium Term Notes
• Redeemed $500 million of Series 13 preferred shares in May utilizing proceeds from the junior subordinated debt offering completed in March.

Net income attributable to common shares decreased by $299 million or $0.36 per common share to $982 million or $1.00 per share for the three months ended June 30, 2021 compared to the same period last year. Per share results reflect the impact of common shares issued for the acquisition of TC PipeLines, LP in first quarter 2021. Net income attributable to common shares includes a number of specific items that we believe are significant but not reflective of our underlying operations in the period. More information on these items, which are excluded from comparable earnings, can be found in the table entitled "Reconciliation of net income/(loss) to comparable earnings".

Comparable EBITDA of $2.2 billion increased by $47 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 primarily due to the net effect of the following:

• higher EBITDA from Canadian Natural Gas Pipelines largely due to the impact of increased flow-through income taxes and depreciation along with higher rate-base earnings on the NGTL System and Coastal GasLink development fees
• increased earnings in U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines from Columbia Gas following the application for higher transportation rates effective February 1, 2021, subject to refund upon completion of the current rate proceeding, as well as improved earnings across our U.S. Natural Gas Pipelines assets following the cold weather events of 2021 impacting many of the U.S. markets in which we operate
• higher Power and Storage results attributable to increased earnings at Bruce Power in 2021 due to fewer outage days and a higher contract price partially offset by higher operating expenses, as well as increased Natural Gas Storage and Other earnings following the November 2020 acquisition of the remaining 50 per cent ownership interest in TC Turbines
• decreased earnings from Liquids Pipelines due to lower volumes on the Keystone Pipeline System, partially offset by increased contributions from liquids marketing activities reflecting higher margins and volumes
• foreign exchange impact of a weaker U.S. dollar on the Canadian dollar equivalent segmented earnings in our U.S. dollar-denominated operations. U.S. dollar-denominated comparable EBITDA increased by US$105 million compared to 2020 to US$1.1 billion, however, this was translated at 1.23 in 2021 versus 1.39 in 2020. While the weakening of the U.S. dollar in 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 had a considerable negative impact on 2021 comparable EBITDA, the corresponding impact on comparable earnings was not significant due to offsetting natural and economic hedges.

Due to the flow-through treatment of certain expenses including income taxes, financial charges and depreciation on our Canadian rate-regulated pipelines, changes in these expenses impact our comparable EBITDA despite having no significant effect on net income.

Comparable earnings of $1.0 billion or $1.07 per common share increased by $182 million or $0.15 per common share for the three months ended June 30, 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 and was primarily the net effect of:

• changes in comparable EBITDA described above
• higher Interest income and other mainly attributable to realized gains in 2021 compared to realized losses in 2020 on derivatives used to manage our net exposure to foreign exchange rate fluctuations on U.S. dollar-denominated income
• decreased Non-controlling interests following the March 3, 2021 acquisition of all outstanding common units of TC PipeLines, LP not beneficially owned by TC Energy
• higher Income tax expense primarily due to higher comparable earnings and flow-through income taxes in our Canadian rate-regulated pipelines.

Comparable earnings per share reflects the impact of common shares issued for the acquisition of the remaining ownership interests in TC PipeLines, LP in first quarter 2021.

Certain of our businesses generate all or most of their earnings in U.S. dollars and, since we report our financial results in Canadian dollars, changes in the value of the U.S. dollar against the Canadian dollar directly affect our comparable EBITDA and may also impact comparable earnings. As our U.S. dollar-denominated operations continue to grow, this exposure increases. A portion of the U.S. dollar-denominated comparable EBITDA exposure is naturally offset by U.S. dollar-denominated amounts below comparable EBITDA within Depreciation and amortization, Interest expense and other income statement line items. The balance of the exposure is actively managed on a rolling two-year forward basis using foreign exchange derivatives, however, the natural exposure beyond that period remains. As noted previously, the net impact of the U.S. dollar movements on comparable earnings for the three months ended June 30, 2021 compared to 2020, after considering natural offsets and economic hedges, was not significant.

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