Canada’s Imperial Oil posts lower-than-expected adj. profit

Canada's Imperial Oil Ltd on Friday reported a lower-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit, hurt by a 22 percent rise in expenses.

The Calgary-based company reported a net loss of C$137 million ($111.23 million), or 16 Canadian cents per share, for the fourth quarter as it booked charges of C$566 million related to its Horn River and Mackenzie projects.

The company, majority owned by Exxon Mobil Corp , posted a C$1.44 billion profit in the year-ago quarter on a C$988 million gain from the sale of its retail stations.

According to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, the company earned 51 Canadian cents per share, excluding items, while analysts on average had expected a profit of 68 Canadian cents.

Total expenses rose to C$8.29 billion from C$6.78 billion.

The company's total revenue fell about 4.3 percent to C$8.08 billion.

Imperial said production in the quarter remained unchanged at 399,000 gross oil-equivalent barrels per day from a year earlier.

The company's share of production at the Syncrude oil sands plant, in which it holds a 25 percent stake, was 81,000 bpd, down from 87,000 bpd.

(Reporting by Nishara Karuvalli Pathikkal; Editing by Maju Samuel)