Enbridge (NYSE: ENB) reported Q3 EPS of $0.55, $0.11 better than the analyst estimate of $0.44.

"It was another very productive quarter, both from a financial and strategic perspective," commented Al Monaco, President and Chief Executive Officer of Enbridge.

"The strong financial results in the third quarter underscores the quality and predictability of our business model. The 13% year over year increase in distributable cash flow reflects a growing contribution from each of our core businesses driven by strong operating performance, optimization of throughput on existing assets, synergy realization from the Spectra acquisition and the successful execution of new projects. As a result, we remain confident in achieving our financial guidance for 2018, and expect to end up in the top half of the DCF per share guidance range.

"From a strategic standpoint, we've made great progress in achieving the key priorities that we laid out in our three year business plan last November. In addition to delivering solid distributable cash flow and earnings per share growth, those priorities included executing significant non-core asset sales, accelerating balance sheet de-leveraging and simplifying the overall corporate structure.

"This past quarter we received close to $6 billion of proceeds from the $7.5 billion of non-core asset sales agreements announced this year. These sales will further focus our business on low risk pipeline and utility assets and a significant portion of the proceeds will immediately be put towards debt repayment. At quarter-end our consolidated Debt to EBITDA metric was down to 4.7x, well ahead of our year end target of 5.0x.

"In addition, we reached agreement with each of the Independent Committees on terms for the buy-in of our sponsored vehicles. These transactions are good for sponsored vehicle unitholders and Enbridge shareholders, all of whom will benefit from bringing in these core assets under one simpler corporate structure with greater diversification, more retained cash flow, and an enhanced credit profile.

"Execution of our $22 billion secured capital program also remains nicely on track. We're very pleased that the Nexus natural gas pipeline was placed into service in October and the Valley Crossing natural gas pipeline is now complete and available for service as of this week. These two projects are good examples of the growth from the premium natural gas franchise we acquired through the Spectra transaction.

"The Minnesota PUC has now issued its Written Orders for the Certificate of Need and Route Permit for the Line 3 Replacement Project. We expect to begin construction activities in Minnesota in the first quarter of 2019, bringing the full project into service in the second half of the year.

"Finally, the pipeline rupture on the T-South segment of our BC Pipeline System in early October serves as an important reminder as to why the safety of our systems has and always will remain our number one priority. Fortunately there were no injuries or long-term environmental impacts to the site and we were able to quickly restore partial service to our customers. I'd like to thank the emergency responders for their efforts and the communities and First Nations in the region for their support and cooperation throughout the incident response.

"In summary, thanks to our ongoing strong business performance and the progress we're making on our strategic priorities, including the execution of the Line 3 project, we continue to expect a 10% compound annual growth in cash flow and dividends per share through 2020. We look forward to a more in-depth update to the investment community on our business and financial outlook at our annual investor conference on December 11th," concluded Mr. Monaco.

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