Banana war
By Russ Lynch
forces Dole to
digest $8 mil loss
Star-Bulletin
Dole Foods Co. today recorded a sharp quarterly loss and said it will cut about 9,000 workers as it continues to be hurt by an ongoing banana trade war with Europe and last year's devastating Hurricane Mitch in Central America.
Dole will close banana operations in Nicaragua and Venezuela and reduce purchases from independent growers as part of a plan to reduce banana operations by 17 percent. The company employs about 53,000 worldwide.
The company today reported a third-quarter net loss of $8 million compared with a net profit of $15.56 million in the year-earlier period.
Rehabilitation expenses related to crop damage in Central America from Hurricane Mitch last year caused much of the third-quarter net loss. But the company said its net result from ongoing operations without the hurricane charges was a loss of $1.87 million in the latest quarter.
The company said the operating loss was largely attributable to weaker prices for bananas in Europe and ongoing effects from last year's citrus freeze in California also played a part. Dole announced in September that it expected either a loss or to break even for the quarter. Third-quarter revenues of $1.4 billion were up 16.7 percent from $1.2 billion in the 1998 quarter.
Dole was founded in Hawaii in the mid 1800s but has expanded into the world's largest grower and marketer of fresh fruits and vegetables with revenues of $4.4 billion last year.
Now based Westlake Village, Calif., Dole still has agricultural operations in Hawaii.
