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Potlatch earnings improve

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

Potlatch Corp. reported improved fourth-quarter earnings of $9.9 million on Monday, citing higher prices for the company’s tissue products and revenue from land sales.

The earnings amounted to 34 cents per share. During the fourth quarter of 2004, Potlatch reported a net loss of $10 million, or 34 cents per share.

Net earnings for all of 2005 were $33 million, or $1.13 per share, compared to 2004 net earnings of $15.3 million, or 52 cents per share.

Potlatch Chairman Penn Siegel said several factors played into the company’s fourth-quarter turnaround, including higher prices for tissue products, higher revenues from land sales and conservation easements, and a more favorable tax structure related to the company’s conversion to a real estate investment trust. However, the company paid $5 million more for energy during the fourth quarter, compared to the prior-year period.

Potlatch is based in Spokane, with operations in Idaho, Nevada, Minnesota, Arkansas and Oregon.

Nautilus Inc. stock fell Monday after Wall Street expressed concern about the health and fitness products company’s fourth-quarter supply problems, which could adversely affect the first quarter.

The Vancouver, Wash.-based company reported sales in line with the reduced forecast it offered in January, due to manufacturing bottlenecks that caused delays in the production of goods.

Retired Delta pilots will get a larger voice in Delta Air Lines Inc.’s Chapter 11 restructuring, a bankruptcy court judge said Monday in a ruling that could complicate the airline’s bankruptcy proceedings.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Adlai Hardin said the retired pilots, who had no representation on a previously appointed retiree committee, deserved under law to have an official say in how Delta would restructure in bankruptcy — and how that could affect their retirement benefits.

Time Warner Inc. is selling its book publishing division to the French media and defense conglomerate Lagardere SCA for $537.5 million, the companies announced Monday.

Time Warner Book Group is the fifth-largest U.S. book publisher.

Chemical company BASF AG said Monday it has given shareholders of Engelhard Corp. another chance to respond to its unsolicited $4.9 billion takeover offer.

The initial deadline had been Feb. 6 but after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission signed off on the deal, the Ludwigshafen-based company opted to extend it to March 3.