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Dole’s earnings
exceed forecasts
The company's profits would
Gates has Castle stake Staff and wire reports
have been up 20% if not
for a one-time insurance
payment in 1999WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. -- Dole Food Co., the world's biggest producer of fresh fruit, reported fiscal second-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street expectations, sending the company's stock higher today.
Net income was $45.1 million, or 81 cents a share, in the quarter ended June 17, beating the 77-cent average forecast of six analysts polled by IBES International.
Dole's second-quarter net profit was down nearly 5 percent from $47.4 million, or 83 cents per share, last year, but the 1999 quarter included a $15 million insurance payment for Hurricane Mitch. The October 1998 storm had devastated the company's operations in Central America.
Excluding last year's one-time payment, the latest quarter's net represents a 20 increase from Dole's profit from operations of $37.5 million, or 66 cents a shares, in the second-quarter of 1999.
The company credited cost cutting in its banana business and said its citrus trees in California recovered from a freeze.
Dole's revenues were essentially flat at about $1.3 billion in the latest quarter while sales fell 1.2 percent to $1.3 billion from $1.32 billion. The Westlake Village, Calif.-based company also attributed some of the earnings increase to sales of its packaged fruit bowls and fresh-cut salads, as well as improved vegetable production.
Dole's shares closed up 12 1/2 cents to $15.69 on the New York Stock Exchange. They have fallen about 46 percent in the past year. The company began in Hawaii in the mid-1800s and is still a major property owner in the state. It is led by David H. Murdock, who is also in the middle of trying to take full control of Castle & Cooke Inc., which was spun off from Dole in 1995.
Bloomberg News and Reuters
news service contributed to this report.
