sraeli geothermal energy producer Ormat Industries yesterday reported swinging to a profit in the fourth quarter due to a rise in the value of its investment in oil sands company OPTI Canada.

Ormat, which is listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and is the parent company of the Nasdaq-listed Ormat Technologies, reported a quarterly net profit of $27.2 million, compared to a loss of $39 million a year earlier.
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The company booked a loss of $48.6 million in the 2008 quarter from a decline in the value of its holdings in Calgary-based OPTI Canada, which is developing the Long Lake oil sands project in northern Alberta.

In the 2009 quarter Ormat posted a gain of $6.9 million from a rise in the value of its 5.1% stake in OPTI Canada. Revenue in the quarter was unchanged at $97.8 million.

Ormat predicts that group revenue from electricity sales in 2010 will range between $284 million and $294 million.

The company declared a dividend of NIS 0.33 a share, up from NIS 0.2 a year earlier.

Last month subsidiary Ormat Technologies posted unchanged quarterly revenue of $95.3 million as net profit nearly tripled to $16.1 million.

Also yesterday, group company Ormat Nevada reported the acquisition of membership interests in the Hot Sulphur Springs II project. The Israeli company’s job is to build the power plant, a job it believes can be completed during 2012, and to operate it. The project, called Tuscarora, is located in Elko County, Nevada.

And in yet another development, the Pennsylvania firm Howard G. Smith became the latest law firm to file a class-action suit against the Ormat group, alleging that it knowingly misled investors in its financial statements for 2008 and for the first three quarters of 2009. Ormat has already said that it will restate its results for 2008 and that it may do so for the first three quarters of 2009 as well.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1156797.html