Edison’s profit falls 47% on debt refinancing costs

Edison International, the owner of California’s second-largest utility, said Thursday that second-quarter profit fell 47% on refinancing costs. The company raised its full-year forecast, citing rising wholesale power earnings.

Net income in the period dropped to $93 million, or 28 cents a share, from $177 million, or 54 cents, a year earlier, the Rosemead-based company said. Revenue rose 1.5% to $3.05 billion.

Costs to refinance $2.7 billion of debt at the Edison Mission Group unit reduced profit by 45 cents a share. The refinancing will cut interest costs at the unit, which sells power in wholesale markets. For all of 2007, Edison said, per-share profit excluding such items as refinancing costs will be $3.24 to $3.59, up from $3.05 to $3.45 predicted in May.

“They are continuing to benefit from strong commodity prices,” said Paul Patterson, an analyst at Glenrock Associates in New York. “Independent power is doing pretty well around the country.”

Earnings excluding such items as the refinancing rose to 73 cents from 55 cents, exceeding by 10 cents the average of nine analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Profit from wholesale power sales tripled to 30 cents a share as prices increased.

Profit at the company’s Southern California Edison utility fell 38% to $144 million, Edison said. The year-earlier results included an $81-million tax gain.

Shares of Edison fell $3.54, or 6.3%, to $52.76. The stock rose as much as 1.2% after the earnings report before dropping along with shares of other utility owners in an overall down market.