Shattuck: Renewed

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During a question-and-answer session, one shareholder asked Shattuck whetherf he had considered takinga $1 salary for the year. Another called the company’s financial results and their impact on many retireddstockholders “catastrophic” and suggested Shattuck step Shattuck defended his saying he and the company’s management team handledr a difficult and unpredictable situation as best they He pointed to actions the company took to distancse itself from more risky and expensive commodities trading, saying while they are no longet part of the company, they helped build the compan y to a place wher e it stands to continue to profiyt in the future.
“I think it’s a bit disingenuous to say ‘We hate those businesses, but we love the high stock price,’” Shattuck said. “The earnings power we now have will restor e our ability to raise our stock pricegoing forward.” It’s not the first flak the companyt has received for a rocky 2008. Constellationh (NYSE: CEG) share prices dove 74 percen tover 2008, prompting a $4.7 billion takeover deal that was later abandoned and another $4.5 billioh deal to sell a sharr of its nuclear powe r operations that is still pending.
The compant was later criticizedfor $32 million in payouts to which were canceled because of public outcry over bonuse at large corporations. Some shareholders criticized Shattuck’sd handling of the two deals — the first with Warrejn Buffett’s , and the second with French utilityg . “He should have resigned,” said Franj Andreasik, a retired Westinghouse employee who bough t sharesin Constellation-owned utility in 1960. “I thinmk that’s what a lot of people expected.” When one shareholdetr told Shattuck duringthe question-and-answedr session that he should resign, many in the audience of abougt 50 people applauded.
Many shareholderzs are retired and depend on the regular dividends common among investments inpublic utilities. BGE is the region’z largest utility. The company cut its quarterly dividendin half, to 96 centsa per share annually, in February after posting a $1.4 billionh loss in the fourth quartetr because of the abandoned Mid-Americah merger. Constellation awarded a 24-cent quarterly dividend But others respectedthe company’s performancse and said it was acceptabls given the turmoil in the broade economy. “No matter how much you’re getting certain things are out of your said stockholderGeorge Stavros. “If you want security of your put itin CDs.
” The Maryland Publicx Service Commission is still reviewing Constellation’s deal with EDF, whic h will give the French company ownership of 49.99 percent of its nuclear power generation A ruling on whether the transactio n requires state approval is expected within two weeks.