Dominion Reports Profit Increase Thanks to Weather, Transactions

By Lisa Beilfuss

Dominion Resources Inc. said profit rose 12% in the latest quarter as the energy producer and transporter benefited from more favorable weather and farm-out transactions.

Like many in the space, the sharply lower price of energy has crimped the firm's results. But in the third quarter, Dominion said a return to normal weather helped lift its bottom line. Earlier Monday, electric-power producer Entergy Corp. similarly credited better weather for its adjusted earnings increase.

Dominion also said transactions during the quarter helped boost earnings. Last month, the company agreed to sell a third of its solar portfolio to SunEdison Inc. for about $300 million, the latest in a recent string of deals between the companies. In the quarter, farm-out transactions added 5 cents to earnings per share.

In all, the Richmond, Va., company reported a profit of $593 million, or $1.00 a share, up from $529 million, or 90 cents, a year earlier. Excluding certain tax-related items, among others, earnings per share rose to $1.03 from 93 cents.

Dominion had guided for adjusted earnings of 95 cents to $1.10 a share.

For the current quarter, Dominion said it expects to earn an adjusted 85 cents to 95 cents a share. Analysts have predicted 93 cents in per-share profit, according to Thomson Reuters.

Shares in the company, down about 7% this year, were inactive premarket.

Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 02, 2015 09:11 ET (14:11 GMT)

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