Alaska Air Has ‘Outstanding Year’ In 1998

Record fourth-quarter profits and annual earnings were reported Wed nesday by Alaska Air Group Inc., the result of cost-cutting and in creased passenger traffic in 1998.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, Alaska Air had net income of $27 million or $1.02 per diluted share on $457 million in revenues, compared with $15.1 million in profits or 73 cents a share on revenues of $422.8 million in the same period in 1997.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” Chairman John F. Kelly said. “It was simply an outstanding year.”

Alaska Air is the holding company for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air.

In other reports:

The Walt Disney Co.’s earnings fell 18 percent during the company’s first quarter, reflecting slow home video sales and the impact of higher costs in its broadcasting and movie businesses.

Disney reported it earned $622 million, or 30 cents per share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, including a one-time gain from its acquisition of a 43 percent share of Infoseek, the popular Internet search service.

Minus the Infoseek gain, Disney’s earnings fell 37 percent to $470 million, or 23 cents per share, compared with $755 million, or 37 cents per share, a year earlier. The results were slightly below Wall Street estimates of 24 cents per share, according to a survey of analysts by First Call Corp.

Revenue rose 4 percent to $6.59 billion from $6.34 billion.

Amazon.com Inc. reported late Tuesday it lost $46.43 million, or 30 cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31, compared with a loss of $10.81 million, or 8 cents a share, a year ago. The results include a charge of $24.2 million for costs associated with recent acquisitions.

A rise in online holiday shopping lifted sales to $252.89 million in the fourth quarter, up from $66.04 million a year ago.

Excluding the charges, Amazon.com lost $22.18 million, or 14 cents a share, in the fourth quarter. Analysts surveyed by First Call had expected its operating losses to be 18 cents a share.

Texaco Inc. became the latest oil company to announce sharply lower earnings for the fourth quarter, reporting a net loss of $213 million due to low oil prices and currency losses in Asia.

The loss, which worked out to 43 cents a share, compared with a profit of $623 million, or $1.12 per share, in the same period of 1997. Quarterly revenues tumbled 35 percent to $7.81 billion from $12.05 billion.

Compaq Computer Corp. said its fourth-quarter profits rose 14 percent, topping Wall Street’s expectations.

Low prices for copper and other metals drove down earnings for Asarco Inc. last year, the company said Wednesday.

The New York-based company reported losses of $130.6 million, or $3.29 per share, in 1998, compared with earnings of $98.3 million the previous year.

Last year’s losses include several one-time costs, such as a $16 million charge related to Asarco’s sale of its Missouri Lead Division, $23.2 million to increase reserves for environmental remediation, and $6.2 million for severance and other expenses connected to the three-year shutdown at a copper smelter in Texas.

Asarco’s losses “reflect the low copper price which existed throughout 1998,” said board Chairman Richard De J. Osborne.

The average price for copper was 75 cents per pound last year, compared with $1.04 per pound in 1997.

Asarco owns the Galena and Coeur mines in the Silver Valley through a joint venture with the Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. The company also has proposed what would be North America’s largest silver and copper mine upstream from Lake Pend Oreille in Noxon, Mont.