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MDU Resources Group Joins Fortune 500 List

The Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — MDU Resources Group Inc. has joined the Fortune 500 — the only North Dakota-based company on the list — despite a drop in profits last year.

The Bismarck-based energy, mining and construction company ranks No. 473 on the annual list of the country's 500 largest publicly traded companies.

Fortune's list, released this month, ranked companies by their revenue in 2008. MDU said its revenue last year increased 18 percent to $5 billion, from $4.25 billion.

The magazine ranked MDU No. 521 last year.

MDU spokesman Rick Matteson said the company was established in 1924 in Minnesota, as a small utility company serving western North Dakota and eastern Montana. MDU moved its headquarters to Bismarck 40 years ago.

"We started out as a tiny utility company and have grown into a group of diversified businesses, and a lot of that has come in the past 10 years," Matteson said.

MDU has operations in 44 states and Brazil, and has about 10,000 employees, Matteson said. About 1,000 are based in North Dakota, he said.

Though revenue set a record last year, MDU reported a 32 percent drop in profits, following five consecutive record-setting years. The company said its full-year net income slipped to $293 million, or $1.59 per share, compared with $431.4 million, or $2.36 per share, in 2007.

The company attributed the loss to a $84.2 million charge related to low energy prices.

MDU said it expects 2009 earnings of $1.05 to $1.30 per share, less than analysts' projected $1.57 per share, because of a drop in oil and gas prices. Its first quarter earnings report is expected May 1.

MDU subsidiaries include Bismarck's Montana-Dakota Utilities, Seattle-based Cascade Natural Gas Corp., and Idaho-based Intermountain Gas Co. MDU also is a partner in the coal-fired Big Stone II power plant proposed for northeastern South Dakota.

The Fortune 500 list was established in 1955.

"We're excited by it," Matteson said of making the list. "It's something the company has been aiming for, for a long time."