Letter to Our Shareholders Allen Franklin  Chairman, President, and CEO 3 SO 2OO2 Our strategy is straightforward. Our results are real. We believe our targets are  credible and achievable. We are disciplined and committed to keeping promises. This approach historically has produced excellent results for Southern Company customers and shareholders. It again added up to an outstanding performance in 2002. We achieved earnings of $1.32 billion, or $1.86 per share. Even excluding the positive effects of weather and one-time items, our earnings of $1.75 per share exceeded Wall Street expectations as well as our earnings-growth goal. We succeeded despite a recession that hit the manufacturing sector in the Southeast especially hard. We did it while continuing to meet very high standards for customer service and reliability.