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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowEvansville-based utility Vectren Corp. reported profit of $37.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2008, a 7-percent dip compared with the same period the previous year.
Profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was 46 cents per share, a penny short of analyst estimates.
Profit for the entire year declined nearly 10 percent, to $129 million. Vectren CEO Niel C. Ellerbrook blamed much of the drop on the company’s non-utility group, which includes coal mining and the supplying of natural gas to municipal utilities and big industry.
The supplier, Indianapolis-based ProLiance Energy, which is jointly owned by Citizens Energy Group, reported 2008 profit that was $3.6 million lower than the previous year. The entire non-utility group lost $5.9 million last year.
However, Vectren’s fourth-quarter revenue jumped nearly 9 percent, to $707 million, compared with the same period the previous year. Revenue for the entire year increased as well – up 8 percent, to $2.4 billion.
In October, Vectren’s board of directors declared a 3.1-percent increase to the stock dividend, raising the quarterly dividend to 33.5 cents per share and establishing a new annual rate of $1.34 per share.
Vectren stock traded at $22.51 this morning, down 46 cents.
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