COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ó Power generator Duke Energy Corp. said Thursday that its fourth quarter profit rose 36 percent as unusually cold weather drove demand for energy despite a big drop in industrial demand in the Midwest and Carolina as the recession took hold.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Duke said it earned $331 million, or 26 cents a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from $243 million, or 19 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter when one-time charges from discontinued operations depressed its profit.
Excluding one-time items in both quarters, Duke earned $338 million, or 27 cents a share, in the quarter compared with $313 million, or 25 cents a share, a year ago.
Revenue rose to $3.1 billion compared with $3 billion a year ago.
Thomson Reuters says analysts expected Duke to earn 26 cents a share on revenue of $3.1 billion. Those results typically exclude charges.
“The recession is clearly deepening,” Jim Rogers, Duke’s chairman, president and chief executive, said in an interview.
“Quite frankly, no one really knows when the economy will bounce back,” he said.
Industrial demand fell 11 percent in the quarter, including a 21 percent drop in the textile business in the Carolinas. The company said part of the huge drop in the textile industry stemmed from the decision by many companies to shut production over Christmas.
Duke said residential consumption was up 4 percent in the quarter, but also would have been down had it not been for the exceptionally cold weather.
Declining industrial demand for electricity is another example of the recession and comes as demand for oil and natural gas also have plummeted even as the country endures one of the coldest winters in years.
The government’s Energy Information Administration has said consumption of electricity nationwide fell 1 percent in the fourth quarter and is forecast to decline 0.5 percent this year before rebounding in 2010.
Duke said last month that it is freezing the wages of about half of its 18,000 workers in 2009 because of the recession as industrial customers and consumers cut back on consumption. Rogers said the company will look to cut costs further this year.
Despite the recession, Rogers said the company remains strong financially and was able to borrow $4.5 billion during the quarter at 6.05 percent, rates that were slightly above other debt.
For the year, Duke earned $1.36 billion, or $1.07 per share, compared with $1.5 billion, or $1.18 per share, in 2007. Revenue rose to $13.2 billion in 2008 from $12.7 billion.
Duke has about 4 million electric customers in North and South Carolina, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. It also has about 500,000 gas customers in Ohio and Kentucky. It generates electricity in Latin America and is a joint-venture partner in a U.S. real estate company.