By Robb M. Stewart

Enbridge will lift its dividend payout as the pipeline operator and gas utility targets increased earnings in the coming year as new energy projects come on line and it benefits from rates set by regulators

The Canadian energy company said Wednesday it anticipated adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of between 20.2 billion Canadian dollars ($14.5 billion) and C$20.8 billion in 2026, and distributable cash flow of C$5.70 to C$6.10 a share.

The company said it continues to aim for 2025 Ebitda stripping out infrequent items of C$19.4 billion to C$20 billion, and anticipates hitting the upper half of that range.

Enbridge had set itself a goal of compound annual Ebitda growth of between 7% and 9% over 2023 to 2026, and growth in distributable cash flow per share of about 3% in that period. Beyond 2026, the company is targeting 5% Ebitda growth.

The company said it will pay a quarterly dividend of C$0.97 a share, an increase of 2.9% on the last payout and marking a 31st successive year it has raised its dividend. The latest dividend will be payable March 1 to shareholders of record on Feb. 17.

Earlier this week, Canadian energy-infrastructure company AltaGas laid out its targets for next year, including projected normalized earnings of between C$2.20 and C$2.45 a share, which would mark roughly 6% growth at the midpoint.

AltaGas's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization on a similar normalized basis--an industry metric that seeks to reflect the underlying performance of business activities--is expected to come in at C$1.93 to C$2.03 billion, which at the midpoint would mark growth of about 8% from 2025.

The company, which runs global export, processing and fractionation facilities as well as regulated natural gas utilities in the U.S., also said it would lift its annual dividend payout by 6%.

Enbridge, which moves roughly 30% of the crude oil produced in North America and nearly 20% of the natural gas consumed in the U.S., said it has roughly C$8 billion of new projects entering service in 2026. It also expects strong growth for the year from recent rate settlements and rate cases in both its gas distribution and gas transmission operations.

Enbridge last month approved a $1.4 billion expansion of its core network in order to boost deliveries of heavy oil from Western Canada to key refining markets in the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast. The project is set to add 150,000 barrels a day to Enbridge's Mainline system capacity and 100,000 barrels a day to the Flanagan South pipeline from 2027.

The company said it expects to deploy about C$10 billion of capital on growth in 2026, exclusive of maintenance capital. It said it expects its balance sheet to remain strong, and has a financing plan including about C$10 billion of debt issuances for next year that is largely earmarked for the refinancing of C$5 billion of debt maturities.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 03, 2025 07:44 ET (12:44 GMT)

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