Icahn Enterprises Q4 Profit Surges; Hikes Annual Distribution

(RTTNews) - Icahn Enterprises L.P. (IEP) on Monday reported a surge in profit for the fourth quarter from last year, reflecting double-digit revenue growth as well as a higher tax benefit. In addition, the company lifted its annual distribution by 20 percent.

IEP, a master limited partnership, is a diversified holding company engaged in nine primary business segments - Investment, Automotive, Energy, Metals, Railcar, Gaming, Food Packaging, Real Estate and Home Fashion.

For the fourth quarter, net income attributable to Icahn Enterprises was $222 million or $1.90 per LP unit, up from $6 million or $0.05 per LP unit.

Revenues for the quarter rose 14 percent to $4.87 billion from $4.29 billion in the year-ago period. Of this, net sales rose to $4.53 billion from $3.99 billion last year.

The company recorded an income tax benefit of $392 million in the quarter, compared to $60 million in the year-ago period.

Activist investor Carl Icahn said, "The financial performance of Icahn Enterprises demonstrates the power of our activist strategy both in our investment funds and our operating companies. We are off to a strong start in 2014. As a result of our strong performance and positive outlook, we are happy to increase the distribution by 20%."

Icahn is known to amass stakes in companies that he sees as undervalued and poorly managed, in order to push for management changes as well as seats on the company's board of directors for himself and his nominees.

Icahn Enterprises noted that as of February 28, 2014, it held significant positions in various investments. These include Apple Inc. (AAPL), Forest Laboratories (FRX), eBay Inc. (EBAY), Chesapeake Energy (CHK), Herbalife Ltd. (HLF), Netflix (NFLX), Transocean Ltd. (RIG), Nuance Communications, Inc. (NUAN), Talisman Energy Inc. (TLM), Hologic Inc. (HOLX) and Navistar International Corp. (NAV).

On February 25, 2014, the board of the general partner of Icahn Enterprises declared a quarterly distribution of $1.50 per depositary unit. This increases the comapny's annualized distribution by 20 percent to $6.00 from $5.00.

The quarterly distribution is payable in either cash or additional depositary units, at the election of each depositary unit holder and will be paid on or about April 22, 2014 to depositary unit holders of record at the close of business on March 13, 2014.

In Monday's regular session, IEP is trading at $112.86, up $1.64 or 1.48 percent on a volume of 57,882 shares.