Imperial Oil's quarterly profits up 50%

Shares of Calgary-based Imperial Oil Limited rose more than four per cent Monday after the integrated oil company reported fourth-quarter profits rose by 50 per cent.

Its stock endedtrading Monday at $44.65, up $1.95 cents, or 4.6 per cent.

Earnings were helped by higher prices for crude oil, higher retail prices and improvements in refinery operations.

Net income for the three months ended Dec. 31 was $799 million, or 94 cents per share, compared with $534 million, or 64 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson-Reuters were, on average, expecting 65 cents per share.

Revenue was $6.9 billion, up from $5.9 billion and above analyst expectations of $5.9 billion.

Earnings for the full year were $2.2 billion or $2.59 per share, up from $1,579 million in the full year 2009, an increase of 40 per cent.

Imperial, which is majority-owned by Houston-based ExxonMobil, is Canada's largest petroleum refiner and has 1,850 retail service stations across the country.

Exxon profit up 53%

The parent also reported Monday, with Exxon saying net income grew 53 per cent in the fourth quarter as oil prices rose and the company increased production.

The largest publicly traded oil company in the worldon Monday reported earnings of $9.25 billion US, or $1.85 per share, the highest since its record profit of $14.8 billion in the third quarter of 2008. In the year-ago quarter, Exxon earned $6.05 billion, or $1.27 per share.