TransCanada Results Beat Expectations; Company Raises Dividend -- Update

By Anne Steele 

TransCanada Corp. posted a loss Thursday for its latest quarter on a hefty charge related to the sale of its Northeast U.S. renewable power generation business.

Results, however, came in better than Wall Street expectations, and the company also raised its quarterly dividend 11% to 62.5 Canadian cents per share.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, the company recorded a net loss of 358 million Canadian dollars, or 43 Canadian cents a share, compared with a loss of C$2.5 billion, or C$3.47 a share, in the year-earlier period. TransCanada attributed the loss to a C$870 million write-down related to the sale of the U.S. Northeast power business.

Excluding that charge and other items, adjusted earnings rose to 75 Canadian cents per share from 64 Canadian cents for the same period in 2015. Revenue surged 27% to C$3.62 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected an adjusted 72 Canadian cents a share on C$3.5 billion in revenue.

President Donald Trump last month took steps to revive two controversial oil pipeline projects that had been rejected by the Obama administration -- Keystone XL, which is owned by TransCanada, as well as Energy Transfer's Dakota Access Pipeline.

Environmentalists have urged rejection of the pipelines as part of a commitment to fighting climate change, while fossil-fuel companies argue the projects are essential for energy security and the economy.

The Keystone and Dakota Access projects were designed to help expand infrastructure in response to a North American oil boom, but they both ran into fierce opposition and ultimately were denied permits under President Obama.

If completed, Keystone would send up to 830,000 barrels of oil a day, mostly from Canada's oil sands to Steele City, Neb., where it would link to existing pipelines to Gulf Coast refineries.

Write to Anne Steele at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 16, 2017 10:25 ET (15:25 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.