DELAWARE, Ohio (AP) _ Greif Inc. (GEF) on Wednesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter net income of $44.4 million.

On a per-share basis, the Delaware, Ohio-based company said it had profit of 74 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, came to 78 cents per share.

The results surpassed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 72 cents per share.

The industrial packaging company posted revenue of $1.16 billion in the period.

For the year, the company reported profit of $108.8 million, or $1.83 per share. Revenue was reported as $4.51 billion.

For the current quarter ending in February, Greif expects its per-share earnings to range from 48 cents to 58 cents.

Greif shares have climbed 17% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Wednesday, shares hit $51.76, a rise of 16% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on GEF at https://www.zacks.com/ap/GEF

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