Dynegy Posts First Profit in Five Quarters

Dynegy Inc., a U.S. power producer brought close to a bankruptcy filing last year by energy-trading losses, posted its first profit in five quarters, helped by accounting changes and higher prices.

First-quarter net income was $147 million, or 17 cents a share, contrasted with a net loss of $247 million, or 91 cents, in the same period a year earlier, the firm said. Revenue rose 23% to $1.77 billion.

Below-normal temperatures in the Midwest and Northeast boosted demand for electricity and fuel to heat homes, increasing profit from Dynegy’s power stations and natural gas processing plants. The company said in October that it would quit energy trading, a business that contributed to $2.74 billion in losses last year and caused Dynegy to lose its investment-grade debt ratings.

Shares of Houston-based Dynegy rose 94 cents to $4.70 on the NYSE.

* McKesson Corp. said fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 43% as the San Francisco company sold more medicines, health-care supplies and services. Net income rose to $179 million, or 61 cents a share, from $125.4 million, or 42 cents, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue excluding shipments to customers’ warehouses, a benchmark for drug wholesalers, rose 13% to $11 billion.

* Titan Corp., a San Diego maker of military communications equipment, had first-quarter net income of $7 million, or 9 cents a share, as sales of products related to domestic security rose. The company had a net loss of $33.6 million, or 47 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 20% to $377.9 million.