Red Lion Hotels’ earnings improve

Red Lion Hotels Corp. reported improved third-quarter earnings Thursday, citing revenue growth from hotel room rentals.

Net income from continuing operations was $2.8 million, or 22 cents per share, during the third quarter, which is up 6 percent from the third quarter of 2004. The figures do not include another $2.7 million in after-tax gains from the sale of hotel properties.

For the first nine months of the year, Red Lion’s net income was $600,000, or 5 cents per share, down 50 percent from the same period last year.

Art Coffey, Red Lion’s president and chief executive officer, cited hotel renovations as an accomplishment. During the third quarter, Red Lions at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, in downtown Boise and in Kelso, Wash., were undergoing upgrades. The work should be done by the end of the year.

The company’s revenue-per-available-room, a measure of financial health in the hospitality industry, also increased 5.5 percent during the third quarter. The increase was partly driven by an increase in daily rates, to $79. Slightly higher hotel occupancy rates were also a factor.

Revenue-per-available room has increased for seven consecutive quarters, despite the ongoing renovations, company officials said. By year-end 17 hotels will either undergoing renovations, or have completed the process.

Red Lion is in the midst of a $40 million effort to upgrade 31 company-owned hotels by mid-2006.

In other earnings Thursday:

“Microsoft Corp. said that earnings for its fiscal first quarter rose 24 percent, helped by strong growth in the personal computer and server market.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the Redmond-based software maker reported earnings of $3.14 billion, or 29 cents per share, up from $2.53 billion, or 23 cents per share, in the same period last year.

The most recent results included a charge of 2 cents per share to account for a legal settlement with RealNetworks Inc.

The results for the year-ago period included a one-time charge of $359 million, or nearly 4 cents per share, to account for a legal settlement with Novell Inc.

Without the one-time charge, the company would have earned 31 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of 30 cents per share on revenue of $9.8 billion.

Revenue for the three-month period was $9.74 billion, up from $9.19 billion the same period last year.

Microsoft shares fell 26 cents, or 1 percent, to close at $24.85 Thursday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The results were released after regular trading.

In after-hours trading the shares fell 65 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $24.20.

“Third-quarter profit at Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., the world’s largest bottler of Coca-Cola Co. beverages, fell 7.2 percent after hurricanes disrupted sales.

The Atlanta-based company Thursday trimmed its full-year outlook, saying the effect of recent storms will continue to hurt fourth-quarter performance.

Net income fell to $192 million, or 40 cents a share, in the latest quarter, from $207 million, or 44 cents a share, a year earlier.

Income for the latest period includes a charge of $24 million, or 4 cents a share, for restructuring in the company’s North American business. It also includes an asset write-off of 3 cents a share for Hurricane Katrina.

Excluding items, Coca-Cola Enterprises earned 47 cents a share, matching the average estimate of Wall Street analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

“Dow Chemical Co. continued its strong performance in the third quarter, beating Wall Street’s earnings expectations with a 30 percent profit increase. It was its 11th consecutive quarter of year-over-year earnings growth.

The nation’s largest chemicals company already has surpassed in nine months its its record for annual earnings, officials said.

The Midland-based maker of chemicals, plastics and herbicides said Thursday its net income jumped to $801 million, or 82 cents per share, in the July-September period, up from $617 million, or 65 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2004.

Revenue rose 12 percent to $11.26 billion from $10.07 billion a year ago, as prices improved by 12 percent across all regions and nearly all business segments.

“Georgia-Pacific Corp., the world’s top maker of paper towels and toilet paper, said Thursday its third-quarter profit fell 40 percent as rising costs and lower prices hurt its bottom line.

The Atlanta-based company’s net income dropped to $145 million, or 55 cents per share, from $240 million, or 91 cents per share, the year before. Earnings from continuing operations and excluding unusual items were $198 million, or 75 cents per share, in the latest period, Georgia-Pacific said.

The company’s adjusted profit beat the average estimate of 70 cents per share from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

The company said this month it was cutting 1,100 jobs worldwide and 850 in North America, part of a broad restructuring effort that will save the company more than $75 million this year, Correll said.

“Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., said Thursday its third-quarter earnings more than tripled as drivers increasingly bought premium tires, a trend that has helped the nation’s largest tire maker continue its rebound.

It was Goodyear’s best showing since the third quarter of 1998, and the stock jumped 15 percent on the news.

Akron-based Goodyear earned $142 million, or 70 cents per share, on sales of $5 billion for the July-September quarter, up from third-quarter 2004 earnings of $38 million, or 20 cents per share, on sales of $4.7 billion.

The latest quarter included items that in total boosted earnings by 10 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected third-quarter earnings of 38 cents a share.

For the nine-month period, Goodyear earned $279 million, or $1.39 per share, on sales of $14.8 billion, reversing a loss of $10 million, or 6 cents per share, on sales of $13.5 billion from a year ago.

“Union Pacific Corp., the largest U.S. rail freight carrier, said Thursday that third-quarter profit rose 83 percent on a reduced tax liability and higher revenue.

Net income grew to $369 million, or $1.38 per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, up from $202 million, or 77 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding reduced income-tax expenses, the company reported a profit of $251 million, or 94 cents per share, for the most recent quarter. Union Pacific had forecast profit on that basis would hit the middle to lower end of a range of 88 cents to 98 cents per share.

Revenue rose 13 percent to $3.46 billion in the most recent quarter, with commodity revenue up 12 percent. Agricultural and industrial products led the increases, up 27 percent and 16 percent, respectively. Carload volume grew 1 percent to 2.4 million loads from a year ago.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected earnings per share of 91 cents on revenue of $3.4 billion.

“Verizon Communications Inc.’s profit edged higher in the third quarter as record growth in wireless and broadband subscribers offset the ongoing declines in traditional phone lines at the big telecommunications company that is buying MCI Inc.

Verizon said Thursday it earned $1.87 billion, or 67 cents per share, in the July-September period, up from $1.80 billion, or 64 cents a share, a year ago.

The latest results included a net gain of $37 million from the sale of a New York City office building as well as tax benefits of $115 million that included a repatriation of foreign earnings. Those gains were roughly offset by a $125 million expense relating to Verizon’s investment in aircraft leases impacted by recent airline bankruptcies.

Verizon’s revenue totaled $19.04 billion, up 4.6 percent from the year-ago tally of $18.21 billion.

The third-quarter profit was on target with most Wall Street forecasts, while revenues came in a shade higher than expected by the analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

“XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc., the larger of the nation’s two satellite-radio broadcasters, posted a wider loss in the third quarter Thursday due to higher programming and marketing costs even as revenue rose and subscribers more than doubled from a year ago.

The company had a net loss of $134 million, or 60 cents per share, compared with $120.1 million, or 59 cents per share, the year before. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected a loss of 66 cents per share.

XM’s stock took a hit, however, declining $2.78, or 8.9 percent, to $28.43 in brisk trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock is down 24 percent so far this year.

One piece of news troubling investors was another decline in the “conversion” rate at XM’s key promotional program with General Motors Corp., or the portion of customers who elect to sign up after an initial trial period. That rate fell to 56 percent in the quarter, from 58 percent in the previous quarter and 60 percent a year ago.

“Sony Corp. said Thursday its profit in the latest quarter dropped by nearly half from a year ago, as electronics sales stayed flat, its movies business stumbled and earnings suffered from a heavier tax burden and losses related to equity holdings.

The electronics and entertainment company reported a net profit of 28.5 billion yen ($246 million) for the three months ended Sept. 30, down 46 percent from 53.2 billion yen the same period a year ago.

Sales for the quarter stayed unchanged at 1.7 trillion yen ($15 billion). Sony kept its forecast for its full fiscal year, which runs through March, at a loss of 10 billion yen ($86 million).

Sales were up in Sony’s game unit because of healthy demand for the PlayStation Portable, or PSP, handheld machines, but results were shakier in the company’s core electronics unit. Rising sales of liquid-crystal display TVs and camcorders failed to offset falling sales of plasma TVs and digital cameras, as well as lower prices of LCD TVs, Sony said in a statement.

“Wendy’s International Inc. on Thursday said third-quarter earnings edged higher on a 5 percent rise in sales, but the company trimmed its full-year earnings forecast.

The hamburger chain posted net income of $72.1 million, or 61 cents per share, compared with $69.1 million, or 60 cents per share, in the prior-year period. A stronger Canadian dollar lifted recent results by 7 cents per share and a real estate sale added a penny per share to net income. Offsetting the gains, higher beef costs weighed on results by a penny per share.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $960.6 million from $914 million a year ago.

The results topped Wall Street analysts’ expectations for earnings of 57 cents per share on sales of $951.7 million.

“Honda Motor Co., Japan’s third-largest automaker, reported a record profit for its fiscal half-year Thursday – up 1 percent from a year ago – on the back of strong sales around the world, especially in North America.

At a time when American automakers General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. have been struggling, rapidly losing market share to the Japanese, Honda marked strong global vehicle sales, totaling 1.67 million vehicles for the first half, up 7 percent from the same period a year ago.

Surging oil prices, which have generally battered car sales, are a bit of a blessing for the Japanese, which made their fame on fuel-efficient cars.

Honda’s first-half profit totaled 244.3 billion yen ($2.1 billion) for the six months ended Sept. 30, up from 241.3 billion yen the same period a year ago. Fiscal half-year sales jumped 10 percent to 4.6 trillion yen ($39.7 billion) from 4.17 trillion yen a year earlier.

For the July-September quarter, the maker of the Accord passenger cars posted a profit of 133.7 billion yen ($1.2 billion), up 5.2 percent from 127.1 billion yen a year earlier.

Sales in the quarter grew 12 percent to 2.34 trillion yen ($20 billion) from 2.09 trillion yen, it said.