Crown Pacific Posts Stronger Earnings

Portland-based Crown Pacific, which owns large areas of timberland and three mills in the Inland Northwest, reported higher second-quarter earnings Wednesday.

The timber company earned $4.4 million, or 24 cents per share, compared with the $4.2 million, or 23 cents a share, earned for the same time last year.

Improving lumber prices and more logs sold helped the company continue its earnings growth.

Crown closed or sold three mill operations in the second quarter.

It sold the sawmill at Thompson Falls, Mont., to Riley Creek Lumber Co. It closed a plywood mill in Redmond, Ore., and also closed the sawmill complex at Albeni Falls, Idaho.

The Idaho and Montana sawmills were shut down or sold because the company could not adequately provide logs for the mills, which were on the fringe of its timberland in the region. The mills required expensive modernization as well.

Crown also purchased 207,000 acres of timberland in Washington and Oregon in May.

For the first half of 1996, Crown made $8.6 million, or 47 cents a share, compared with earnings of $8.3 million, or 45 cents a share, in the first half of 1995.

, DataTimes