ALLENTOWN - Closing the year with a strong fourth quarter, PPL Corporation on Friday announced full-year earnings for 2009 that tracked well ahead of the company’s reported and ongoing earnings forecasts. 

PPL’s reported earnings for 2009 were $1.08 per share, compared with $2.47 per share a year ago. Adjusting for special items, PPL’s earnings from ongoing operations for 2009 were $1.95 per share, compared with $2.02 per share for 2008.

For the fourth quarter of 2009, PPL announced reported earnings of $0.40 per share, compared with $0.74 per share a year ago. Adjusting for special items, PPL’s earnings from ongoing operations for the fourth quarter of 2009 were $0.52 per share, compared with $0.46 per share a year ago.

“Our performance this past year speaks volumes about the dedication of our people, the quality of our assets and our overall business model,” said James H. Miller, PPL’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Higher wholesale energy margins, solid operating performance and early cost-reduction initiatives enabled us to deliver very sound results in 2009 ― outperforming the challenging business plan that we put in place.”

Miller highlighted some significant 2009 accomplishments: generation records at certain power plants in Pennsylvania and Montana; successful transition to market-based generation prices in Pennsylvania for 2010 and beyond; 20-year extensions of the operating licenses for both units at PPL’s Susquehanna nuclear plant; recognition of PPL’s strong operating performance by the U.K. regulator in a rate review for the next five-year period; decisions to move ahead with major hydroelectric expansions in Pennsylvania and Montana; and the on-time and under-budget installation of major emission-control equipment at one of PPL’s large coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania.

PPL also reaffirmed its 2010 earnings forecast of $3.10 to $3.50 per share. “We feel confident that the hedges put in place under our multiyear hedging program will provide significant value in 2010, allowing us to continue to forecast very strong financial performance for the year,” Miller said.