Thursday, April 25, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Kerr-McGee Corp., a petroleum and chemical producer with a plant in Henderson, on Wednesday said its first-quarter profit plummeted 98 percent as energy prices fell.
Net income dropped to $5.5 million, or 5 cents a share, from $334.7 million, or $3.21, in the year-earlier period, the company said. Sales fell 23 percent to $809.4 million from $1.05 billion.
Higher oil and gas production didn't make up for steep price declines, Kerr-McGee said. The company received $18.92 a barrel for crude oil and $2.53 per thousand cubic feet of natural gas, declines of 25 percent and 38 percent.
Kerr-McGee's chemicals unit had a $4 million operating loss. Weak demand led the company to reduce its price for titanium dioxide pigment, which is used as a whitener in consumer products including paint and plastics, spokeswoman Debbie Schramm said.
Low energy prices hurt profit
DALLAS -- Exxon Mobil Corp. said Tuesday that first-quarter earnings plunged 58 percent -- causing the oil giant to miss Wall Street's expectations by a wide margin -- as the company grappled with lower energy prices.
Company officials offered faint optimism for the current quarter, saying that profit margins for refining petroleum products have improved in the past three weeks.
Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, said it earned $2.09 billion, or 30 cents per share in the first quarter, compared with $5 billion, or 71 cents per share, in the same period last year.
Excluding continuing costs from the 1999 merger of Exxon and Mobil, the company said it would have earned $2.15 billion, or 31 cents per share.
That was far short of the 39-cent average forecast among analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call, and less than half the first-quarter record of $5.05 billion, or 72 cents per share, last year.
Analysts said despite the disappointing earnings, Exxon Mobil's stock price might not suffer much because investors are focused on tensions in the Middle East and the possibility of higher oil prices.
Insurer expands to New Mexico
Nevada Contractors Insurance is offering workers' compensation insurance to contractors in New Mexico, the company said today.
The expansion is NCI's first attempt to do business outside Nevada, said Pat Gallagher, chairman of Nevada Contractors Insurance. He said New Mexico was selected because its construction market is similar to Nevada's.
Coverage in New Mexico is offered through Builders Insurance Co. Inc., a Nevada domestic insurer wholly owned by Nevada Contractors Insurance Co. Inc., and Benchmark, an A+ rated insurer licensed in all 50 states.
Last year NCI was the Nevada's second-largest provider of workers' compensation insurance, according to the state Insurance Division. Its $35.2 million in direct premiums written was second only to Employers Insurance Company of Nevada, which wrote $112.3 million in direct premiums last year.
Refiner's profit off 70 percent
SAN FRANCISCO -- ChevronTexaco Corp., the second-largest U.S. oil company, beat analysts' estimates for the first quarter, even as profit fell 70 percent because of lower energy prices and a loss from its refining business.
Net income declined to $725 million, or 68 cents a share, from $2.43 billion, or $2.29, a year earlier, the San Francisco- based company said today. Revenue fell 28 percent to $21.2 billion from $29.4 billion.
ChevronTexaco was hurt by a 25 percent decline in U.S. oil prices in the quarter and refining returns that fell to their lowest levels since the 1980s. Rivals Exxon Mobil Corp. and Phillips Petroleum Co. also had losses in their fuel-selling businesses.
The company had expenses of $74 million to write down the value of its 27 percent stake in Houston energy trader Dynegy Inc. and had merger-related costs of $132 million. Without those items, ChevronTexaco said it would have had first-quarter profit of $931 million, or 88 cents a share.
Chrysler operations earn a profit
FRANKFURT, Germany -- German-American automaker DaimlerChrysler today reported a profit of 2.6 billion euros ($2.2 billion) for the first quarter, and raised its forecast for the struggling Chrysler unit by saying it would turn a profit for the year.
But the company said operating earnings for the entire group would fall short of original targets for 2002.
DaimlerChrysler's profit for the January-March period contrasted with a loss of 2.4 billion euros ($2.0 billion) in the same period last year. Its latest earnings were boosted by the sale of a stake in services arm debis Systemhaus to Deutsche Telekom.
With that and restructuring costs removed, it earned 497 million euros ($442 million) for the quarter.
Sales rose 4 percent to 36.9 billion euros ($32.8 billion) from 35.5 billion euros a year ago.
The Chrysler division posted its first operating profit after six quarters of losses. Its operating profit was 127 million euros ($113 million), excluding costs from the company's ongoing restructuring plan, the company said.
Porn sites targeted in Vegas suit
The Federal Trade Commission is suing three companies in a Las Vegas court to block them from sending e-mail that promises free Sony PlayStations and instead leads recipients to pornographic websites charging $3.99 a minute.
"This case involves 'bait-and-switch' of the worst kind," said J. Howard Beales, the FTC's consumer protection chief. "The spammers promised a product that's particularly attractive to kids. They delivered a product that's offensive to many adults."
The defendants, including Canary Islands-based BTV Industries; Reno-based National Communications Team Inc.; and Pasadena, Calif.-based LO/AD Communications Inc., billed users $11 million in AT&T Corp. long-distance charges over a seven-month period last year, the lawsuit said.
The complaint, unsealed this week in federal court in Las Vegas, is part of a crackdown by U.S. and Canadian regulators on unsolicited e-mail, known as "spam."
Retailer disagrees with LV verdict
A Las Vegas couple who filed a personal injury lawsuit against Chicago-based Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 1999 was awarded $7.74 million by a Clark County jury Wednesday.
Peggy Lopez claimed she incurred more than $100,000 in medical bills including surgery expenses for her back, neck, hand and knee after her hand was smashed by the falling hood of her car while at a Sears auto center at Boulevard Mall. She was awarded $7.53 million while her husband, Daniel, was awarded $212,560 for his loss of consortium claim.
Sears spokeswoman Peggy Palter said the retailer will explore its post-trial options.
"We don't believe it's a correct verdict," she said.
Daniel Lopez, who said he was disabled from three other unrelated accidents, sued for damages because his wife's accident left the couple without any source of income.
Lopez also said his physical relationship with his wife suffered after her accident and alleged his health has deteriorated because he's forced to perform household chores that his wife can no longer do.
Henderson plant reports loss
DENVER -- Titanium Metals Corp., operators of a large plant near Henderson, reported a quarterly loss of $36.1 million, or $1.14 per share, compared to a loss of $3.6 million, or 12 cents per share, in the same quarter of 2001.
Excluding special items, the loss was $8.6 million, or 27 cents per share, compared to $3.1 million, or 10 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2001.
Sales of $104.4 million in the first quarter of 2002 were 16 percent lower than the year-ago period. The company said the decrease was due mainly to a 16 percent decrease in mill product sales, a 37 percent decrease in melted products and changes in product mix.
The decrease was partially offset by increases in mill and melted products selling prices.
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