T ransAlta Corp. TA-T says its fourth-quarter profit slipped to $79-million as it booked extra charges during the period. The Calgary-based electricity producer reported the results were worth 37 cents per share, a dip from profits of $94-million, or 47 cents per share, in same period of 2008. The quarter was partly impacted by a writedown of costs for its Centralia plant in the United States. TransAlta said that comparable earnings, which exclude one-time charges, were $84-million, a rise from $79-million a year earlier, both worth 40 cents per share. Analysts had predicted comparable earnings of 49 cents per share, according to a survey from Thomson Reuters. The stronger comparable earnings were helped by fewer outages at its Alberta plants, though lower volumes and higher pricing in the province dampened the growth somewhat. Revenue fell 5.6 per cent to $763-million from $808-million.

February 24th, 2010
Money maker
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