Fortum third-quarter profit surges on higher power demand, hedging

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's Fortum reported on Thursday a 59% jump in its comparable operating profit for the third quarter, citing successful hedging for electricity prices, higher hydro and nuclear volumes, but the utility missed analysts' expectations.Fortum's third-quarter operating profit surged 59% to 153 million euros ($170 million) from last year, but missed estimates of 164 million euros in a market consensus published by the company.Sales stood at 1.06 billion euros, up 9.2%..