Newmont Mining Corp. said Thursday its fourth-quarter profit surged as gold and copper prices soared and it cut production costs.
Greenwood Village-based Newmont earned $558 million, or $1.13 a share, compared with $4 million, or a penny a share, during the same period a year earlier. Revenue jumped 90 percent to $2.52 billion.
Adjusted profit was $1.14 a share, easily beating the 79-cents-a-share estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
Gold prices rose steadily throughout 2009, hitting a peak of $1,227.50 an ounce in early December.
Fidelity Investments, the world’s biggest mutual-fund company, said operating income rose 5.2 percent last year after it cut jobs to reduce expenses.
Operating income, which excludes interest and taxes, climbed to $2.52 billion from $2.39 billion a year earlier, the Boston-based company said Thursday in its annual report. Revenue fell 11 percent to $11.5 billion.
Closely held Fidelity didn’t report net income.
Net inflows declined 43 percent to $31.4 billion as money-market funds drew less money from investors.
Safeway Inc. said charges to write down the value of two of its supermarket chains drove it to a loss for its fourth quarter.
The grocery chain, based in Pleasanton, Calif., reported a loss of $1.61 billion, or $4.06 a share, for the quarter. Safeway earned $338 million, or 79 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier.
Excluding the charges tied to the value of its Vons and Eastern brands, the company earned 53 cents a share — in line with analyst estimates.
Revenue fell more than 8 percent to $12.69 billion.
Kohl’s Corp. said Thursday that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit climbed as the department-store chain controlled inventory levels and benefited from a shopping trend of buying value-priced goods.
For the period ended Jan. 30, earnings rose 28 percent to $431 million, or $1.40 a share, from $336 million, or $1.10 a share, in the same period a year earlier.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted profit of $1.37 a share.
Sales increased 9 percent to $5.68 billion.
H.J. Heinz Co. said growth in emerging markets helped its fiscal third- quarter revenue rise 13 percent. But profit fell 6 percent on costs associated with selling two businesses.
Heinz, known for its namesake ketchup, said profit fell to $228.5 million, or 72 cents a share, from $242.3 million, or 76 cents a share.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, predicted a profit of 77 cents a share.
Denver Post wire reports
