NEW ORLEANS (AP) The planned spinoff of Entergy Corp.'s nuclear generators that sell electricity on the open market into a separate corporation will enable the new company to pursue more profitable power sales, Entergy's head said Friday.

During the company's annual stockholders meeting, chief executive officer Wayne Leonard said Entergy Nuclear has had to focus on long-term power delivery contracts at a fixed price, rather than the spot power market, a more risky venture that brings the potential of greater profit.

Under the current Entergy structure, dependence upon the spot market likely would result in the overall company a mix of regulated utilities in four states and non-regulated nuclear power sales facing a credit downgrade and higher interest costs on borrowed money.

"These two companies don't belong together," Leonard said in an interview after the meeting.

Six nuclear reactors will be spun off into a publicly traded company known as Enexus Energy Corp. Entergy and Enexus also will have a joint venture known as EquaGen LLC that will run the reactors.

"The market is now opening up and we expect to get this financing in place," Leonard told stockholders.

In the interview, Leonard said he expected core earnings of Entergy Corp., after the spinoff, to grow 3 to 4 percent annually. Planned stock buybacks should push overall growth to 6 to 8 percent, he said.

Of the $4.5 billion in planned borrowing, about $4 billion will be used to pay down Entergy's debt for buying the nuclear plants, Leonard said.

On Friday, Entergy stockholders rejected two shareholder proposals aimed at executive compensation.

One would have given shareholders a non-binding vote on whether they approved of packages given to the company's top five executives.

"Shareholders need a voice to bring a semblance of balance to a process that is out of control," said Mark Brooks, representing the Utility Workers of America, which pushed the idea.

The proposal failed with 43.4 percent of voting shares in favor.

Another shareholder proposal would have limited increases in executive compensation to $500,000 annually. It failed with only 4.4 percent of the voting shares.

Leonard received compensation valued at $9.3 million during 2007, according to an Associated Press analysis of the company's proxy filing. That included a base salary of $1.2 million, $1.8 million from a non-equity incentive plan and stock and options awards worth $6.2 million on the dates they were awarded.

His compensation fell from 2006, when due to $12 million in stock and options awards, his total compensation was $15.5 million.

The AP calculations of total pay include executive salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don't include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Leonard said shareholders want top executives to have much of their potential compensation tied to the company's stock.

"Investors want you to have a share of the game," he said.

Government pension systems of New York City also pushed a proposal to force Entergy to report its use of company funds for political donations twice a year. Patrick Doherty, representing the pension systems, said information available through the Federal Elections Commission and the Internal Revenue Service "doesn't give shareholders a complete view."

That proposal drew the support of only 30 percent of the voting shares.

Entergy operates regulated power utilities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas that serve 2.5 million customers and has regulated natural gas businesses in Louisiana.

For 2007, its earnings were flat at $1.1 billion, while revenue rose 5 percent to $11.5 billion. Earnings per share increased to $5.60 from $5.36 in 2006.

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