BRYN MAWR, Pa., Jan. 7, 2004 -- Philadelphia Suburban Corp. announced that customer growth in 2003 increased by more than 20 percent--one of its best years for growth.
This year's significant customer growth is due to a commitment to the growth-through-acquisition that the company began more than 10 years ago. The combined acquisitions of smaller systems throughout its existing service territory, along with this summer's larger acquisition of AquaSource Utility, Inc. from DQE, resulted in the strong year-end customer numbers.
PSC's Vice President of Corporate Development, Mark J. Kropilak said, "We are pleased with the strong growth for this year. While the acquisition of the AquaSource systems, which put us in nine new states and added 130,000 customers, was clearly the pinnacle of this year's acquisition efforts, the numerous smaller 'tuck-in' acquisitions continue to be an important part of our growth efforts as they allow us to continue to expand on the more significant growth we gain from the larger acquisitions.
PSC Chairman Nick DeBenedictis said, "This has been an exciting year for PSC and its newly-structured corporate development department. The balance of smaller system acquisitions coupled with a few larger acquisitions has made for sound strategy for the company, and we look forward to continued growth in 2004."
In addition to its completed growth ventures, PSC announced an agreement to acquire Heater Utilities, a 52,000-customer water and wastewater system in North Carolina, which it expects to close later this year. PSC announced or completed the following growth ventures in 2003.
Philadelphia Suburban Corporation is the nation's largest U.S.-based publicly-traded water utility, serving approximately 2.5 million residents in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Illinois, Ohio, Maine, Indiana, Texas, Virginia, Florida, Missouri, Kentucky and North and South Carolina. On January 16 at 11:59 p.m., PSC will change its name to Aqua America, Inc. and its ticker symbol to WTR. Because of the Martin Luther King holiday, the company will begin trading under its new ticker symbol, WTR, on Tuesday, January 20, 2004.
