TransCanada Corporation (NYSE:TRP) saw its fourth-quarter profit come in ahead of the Street’s estimates, thanks to the booming demand for its oil and gas pipelines.
An increase in oil and gas production in the US, as well as in Alberta, boosted the keystone pipeline operator’s net income to C$1.09 billion, or $1.19 per share, up from C$861 million, or C$0.98 per share, in the year-ago quarter.
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Its revenue jumped to C$3.9 billion from C$3.62 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017.
“We are very pleased with the performance of our diversified portfolio of high-quality, long-life energy infrastructure assets which produced record financial results again in 2018,” said Russ Girling, TransCanada’s CEO in a statement.
In other news, the pipeline operator said it would increase its quarterly dividend to $0.75 from $0.69 per share.
Separately, TransCanada said it had secured commercial support for the proposed Keystone pipeline, which carries Canadian crude oil to the US, and started pre-construction activities.
“We continue to address outstanding legal challenges regarding the project,” the company said.
TransCanada shares nudged up by 1.14% to finish at $42.48 on Thursday.
Contact Ellen Kelleher at ellen@proactiveinvestors.com