IDACORP Profit Slides

Idacorp(IDA Quote), the holding company of Idaho Power and other subsidiaries, said fourth-quarter earnings fell 47% from a year ago due to a goodwill write-off. Earnings in fourth quarter of 2004 were also boosted by an income tax benefit of $5.2 million.

The company earned $7.5 million, or 18 cents a share, compared with $14.3 million, or 37 cents a share, a year ago.

Idacorp was hit by a pretax goodwill impairment charge of about $10 million, or 24 cents a share at Idacomm, the company's telecommunications subsidiary. This was partially offset by a reduction in Idacorp Energy's allowance for bad debts of $9.5 million or 13 cents a share. ...