MDU Resources Group Joins Fortune 500 List

JAMES MacPHERSON

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.