AES profit sinks 52 percent on taxes, weak margins

ARLINGTON, Va.

Electric utility AES Corp. said Friday that its second-quarter net income fell 52 percent on weaker profit margins from its North America operations and a higher tax rate.

Net earnings were $144 million, or 18 cents per share, down from $404 million, or 45 cents per share, for the second quarter of 2009.

Excluding certain items, the company said it earned 23 cents per share.

Revenue jumped 22 percent to $4.02 billion from $3.29 billion on the strength of improved results from its generating plants in Asia and Latin America.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting earnings of 21 cents per share on revenue of $3.06 billion.

AES, which owns power plants in 30 countries, said the gain of $115 million from selling its investment in CEMIG, a Brazilian utility, boosted AES's tax rate, which hurt its profit.

For the first half of its fiscal year, AES reported net income of $331 million, or 44 cents per share, down 36 percent from $521 million, or 78 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue was $8.09 billion, up 24 percent from $6.53 billion.

Shares fell 2 cents to close at $10.65.