Pacificorp Up

PacifiCorp recorded a nearly 9 percent increase in earnings last year to $466 million, or $1.64 a share, mostly on the strength of cost-cutting that offset a decline in electricity sales.

The Portland-based utility also said on Monday that it had an after-tax gain of $37 million, or 13 cents per share, from the sale of the Alaska long-distance operations of the company’s telecommunications subsidiary, Pacific Telecom Inc.