Earnings briefs for July 30, 2004

Friday, July 30, 2004 | 11:07 a.m.

Profit skids, dragging shares

ATLANTA -- Shares of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., the biggest bottler of Coca-Cola Co. beverages, plunged 18 percent Thursday after it missed Wall Street second-quarter earnings expectations by a wide margin because of higher concentrate costs and poor summer weather in Europe.

The Atlanta-based company also warned of a "difficult" third quarter. It predicted full-year earnings will come in at the low end of its raised estimates.

Shares of Coca-Cola Enterprises ended Thurday at $20.63, down $4.40, on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company said net income fell to $203 million, or 43 cents a share, for the quarter, from $260 million, or 56 cents a share, a year earlier.

LV mall operator's profit declines

SAN DIEGO -- Pan Pacific Retail Properties, a large neighborhood shopping center Real Estate Investment Trust that owns several Las Vegas-area properties, on Thursday reported an 18 percent decline in earnings for the second quarter ended June 30

Pan Pacific, which focuses exclusively on West Coast properties, reported a profit of $23.1 million or 57 cents per share, down from $28.2 million or 69 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue grew 7 percent to $71 million.

The company reported $47.3 million in expenses, a 9 percent increase over the year-ago quarter.

Pan Pacific owns 12 properties in Nevada, seven of which are in the Las Vegas Valley. Two of its most well known centers are the Sahara Pavilions, North and South, at Sahara Avenue and Decatur Boulevard.

Profit rises

ATLANTA -- Beazer Homes USA Inc. on Thursday reported a profit of $59.7 million or $4.31 per share for the third fiscal-year quarter that ended June 30, up from $40.7 million or $3.01 per chare in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue grew almost 31 percent to $1 billion.

The company attributed the improvement to an increase in home closings.

Beazer Homes is among the Las Vegas Valley's top 10 home builders, closing escrow on 1,061 homes in 2003 and 799 during the first two quarters of 2004. Comparatively, in Las Vegas, Beazer closed escrow on 866 homes in 2002.

Profit misses expectations

ATLANTA -- Paper and tissue manufacturer Georgia-Pacific Corp. cited strength in its building products business as it reported a sharply higher second-quarter profit on a 6 percent jump in sales.

But the results, announced Thursday, missed Wall Street expectations by a penny a share, and the company's stock fell.

The Atlanta-based maker of Brawny paper towels said it earned $220 million, or 84 cents a share, for the three months ending June 30, compared to a profit of $61 million, or 24 cents s share, in the same period a year ago.

Excluding one-time items -- a gain on asset sales and charges related to its debt, restructuring and severance costs -- Georgia-Pacific said it earned $239 million, or 91 cents a share. On that basis, analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were expecting earnings of 92 cents a share.