DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

HealthSouth Corp. (HLS) swung to a fourth-quarter profit on sharply lower costs and a $121.3 million gain from settling with UBS AG's (UBS) securities arm over an accounting scandal at the rehabilitation-center operator.

The company also projected 2009 earnings growing to 85 cents to 90 cents a share; analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average projected 84 cents.

HealthSouth, which had struggled for years to overcome the accounting woes, got preliminary court approval last month for the settlement involving UBS's role in the matter. HealthSouth returned to profitability in 2007, stemming years of losses tied to the accounting woes and has since sold several divisions as it looks to turn around its operations.

For the fourth quarter, HealthSouth reported net income of $181.9 million, or $1.81 a share, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $45.9 million, or 67 cents a share. Excluding items such as the UBS gain, earnings from continuing operations were 24 cents, compared with a prior-year 1-cent loss.

Revenue rose 6.7% to $463.8 million as same-location discharges climbed 9.7%.

Analysts expected earnings excluding items of 13 cents on $465 million in revenue.

HealthSouth, whose shares closed at $9.73 and didn't trade after-hours, plans to continuing paring debt this year. Leverage fell $228 million in 2008 to about $1.8 billion.

-By Melissa Korn and Kevin Kingsbury, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5400; melissa.korn@dowjones.com