Black Hills Corporation (BKH) swung to a net profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2016. The company has made a net profit of $18.20 million, or $ 0.33 a share in the quarter, against a net loss of $14.20 million, or $0.30 a share in the last year period. On the other hand, adjusted net income for the quarter stood at $58.20 million, or $1.07 a share compared with $33.50 million or $0.71 a share, a year ago.

Revenue during the quarter surged 45.71 percent to $463.80 million from $318.30 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 172 basis points over the previous year period to 64.94 percent. Total expenses were 88.08 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 99.94 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 1186 basis points in operating margin to 11.92 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $55.30 million, compared with $0.20 million in the previous year period.

"We delivered our seventh consecutive year of adjusted earnings growth and 47th consecutive annual dividend increase as we executed our utility-focused strategy and delivered strong operating results," said David R. Emery, chairman and chief executive officer of Black Hills Corp. "We successfully integrated the SourceGas acquisition faster than anticipated, benefiting customers and shareholders. Remarkably, our employee team added approximately 429,000 customers and 1,000 employees across four states in just 10 months. Annual financial results were strong with a 7 percent increase in as adjusted EPS compared to prior year. We recently announced a 6 percent increase in our annual dividend, demonstrating confidence in our ability to grow future earnings."

For financial year 2017, Black Hills Corporation forecasts diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $3.45 to $3.65 on adjusted basis.