DOW JONES NEWSWIRES Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) swung to a first-quarter profit as the oil-and-gas company reported surging revenue prices and benefited from a derivatives gain. Last month, Denbury reached a deal to sell some of its recently acquired properties for $900 million to privately-held Quantum Resources Management as Denbury needs money to pay off its $1.6 billion bank credit facility. The company, in March, completed a $4.5-billion deal to buy Encore Acquisition Co. (ECV). Denbury reported a profit of $100.2 million, or 32 cents a share, compared with a prior-year loss of $18.3 million, or 7 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding derivatives impacts and other items, earnings fell to 6 cents from 19 cents though revenue more than doubled to $438.8 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 7 cents and $278 million in sales. Oil production jumped 18% while gas production slid 44%. Oil and gas prices, excluding hedging, jumped 95% and 32%, respectively. Shares closed at $18.01 Wednesday and were inactive premarket. The stock has risen 22% this year. -By Jodi Xu and John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3037; jodi.xu@dowjones.com
