Kinder Morgan board of directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.125 ($0.50 annualized) payable on February 15, 2016, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 1, 2016.
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This is down from $0.51 per share ($2.04 annualized) for the third quarter of 2015. Consistent with KMI's 2016 guidance provided on December 8, 2015, KMI expects to declare dividends of $0.50 per share for 2016 and use cash in excess of dividend payments to fully fund growth investments.
KMI reported fourth quarter distributable cash flow before certain items available to common shareholders of $1.233 billion versus $1.278 billion for the comparable period in 2014.
This decrease for the quarter is primarily attributable to a decline in our CO2 segment and higher interest expense, partially offset by increases in our Natural Gas Pipelines and Products Pipelines segments. Distributable cash flow per common share before certain items was $0.55 for the fourth quarter compared to $0.60 for the fourth quarter last year.
Fourth quarter net income before certain items was $491 million compared to $664 million for the same period in 2014. The decrease in net income before certain items was driven by higher book taxes, DD&A expense and interest expense.
Certain items after tax in the fourth quarter totaled a net loss of $1.100 billion driven largely by an estimated non-cash pre-tax goodwill impairment charge of $1.150 billion triggered by a decline in market values of KMI and comparable midstream companies resulting in a fair value of our Natural Gas Pipelines non-regulated midstream assets below the book value.
The certain items loss also included a non-cash pre-tax impairment charge related to the indefinite delay of certain of our CO2 segment's source and transportation projects due to lower projected demand for CO2, partially offset by a customer contract buyout payment to terminate a long-term natural gas transport contract.
The 2015 fourth quarter certain items loss compares to a net loss of $98 million for the same period of 2014. For the quarter, the net loss after certain items was $609 million compared to net income of $566 million for the fourth quarter of 2014.
For the full year, KMI reported distributable cash flow before certain items available to common shareholders of $4.699 billion versus $2.618 billion for 2014, an increase of 79 percent, due primarily to the KMI merger transactions completed in Nov. 2014.
2015 distributable cash flow per common share before certain items was $2.14 compared to $2.00 for the previous year, an increase of 7 percent. Net income before certain items for 2015 was $1.649 billion compared to $2.340 billion for 2014. The decrease in net income before certain items was driven by higher DD&A expense, book taxes and interest expense.
Certain items after tax for the year totaled a net loss of $1.314 billion compared to a net gain of $103 million for 2014.
The year-over-year decline in certain items after tax was driven by non-cash pre-tax goodwill and asset impairment charges taken during 2015. For the full year, net income after certain items was $335 million compared to $2.443 billion for 2014. ■