Frontier Oil Posts Loss on Charges

NEW YORK -- Oil refiner Frontier Oil (FTO Quote) said Thursday it lost $97.4 million in the fourth quarter on some hefty one-time charges, including an inventory writedown.

The company's loss amounted to 94 cents per share for the last three months of 2008 compared with a profit of $43.4 million, or 41 cents per share, a year earlier.

The 2008 results include an after-tax inventory loss of $157.4 million, or $1.52 per share, and an after-tax hedging gain of $90.8 million, or 88 cents per share.

Revenue rose slightly to $1.35 billion from $1.32 billion a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predicted a profit of 41 cents per share on sales of $1.61 billion. Analysts typically exclude one-time items from their estimates.

For the full-year, the company earned $80.2 million, or 77 cents per share, compared with $499.1 million, or $4.62 per share, in 2007. Revenue jumped to $6.5 billion from $5.19 billion in a year earlier.

Shares rose 71 cents, or 5.2%, to $14.25 in afternoon trading.