Imperial Oil sees drop in Q4 profit, still makes $4B for year

Imperial Oil Ltd. saw its fourth-quarter profit slip by 25 per cent over last year but still posted yearly earnings up more than 20 per cent, the Calgary-based company said Thursday.

Imperial Oil, which has extensive production facilities and a large number of filing stations across Canada, earned $660 million in the final three months of the year.

The oiler's profit slumped by 25 per cent compared to the same period one year earlier, when Imperial Oil made $886 million. On a per-share basis, Imperial Oil earned 76 cents in the fourth-quarter of 2008 versus 96 cents in the one year earlier period.

But, for the year, Imperial Oil rode historically high oil prices and decent profit margins at its refineries to post earnings of $3.9 billion. The company's bottom-line was 21 per cent above Imperial Oil's earnings of $3.2 billion in 2007.

Imperial Oil's profit worked out to be $4.36 a share in 2008, up compared to $3.41 in 2007.

Three month stock chart for Imperial Oil Ltd.

"Our long-term approach has created a strong financial position that will continue to serve our shareholders well during times of economic uncertainty," said Bruce March, Imperial Oil's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Revenue followed a similar pattern, down in the quarter, up for the year.

In the fourth quarter, Imperial Oil posted revenue of $5.9 billion, down nearly 12 per cent compared to sales of $6.7 billion for the same time last year.

For the entire year, however, sales were up almost 25 per cent, $31.2 billion versus $25.1 billion.

On the capital spending side, Imperial Oil said it was hiking that part of the budget by $2.2-billion in 2009. The company is eyeing projects such as the proposed $8 billion Kearl expansion near Fort McMurray, Alta. which Imperial Oil has already delayed because of slumping oil prices.