EARNINGS : Disney Net Climbs to $32.19 Million in Quarter

Walt Disney Productions on Friday reported a net income of $32.19 million for the three months ended last Dec. 31, compared to $8.99 million reported a year ago, before the company changed an accounting procedure.

The Burbank-based company attributed the earnings surge to contributions made by a newly acquired land development company and improved operating results from Disney’s Florida theme park, home-video and pay-television channel.

Revenue for the three-month period was $426.53 million, up 41% from last year.

In a decision disclosed last November, Disney changed its accounting method for investment tax credits and restated its net income for the three months ended Dec. 31, 1983, to record a gain of $76.11 million. Most of those credits were generated by the construction of Disney’s newest theme park, Epcot Center.

If the most recent quarter is compared to the restated results last year, Disney’s net income decreased 62%.

Disney’s new land development firm, Arvida Corp., generated $28.33 million in operating income.

Erwin Okun, a Disney vice president, declined to provide Arvida’s financial results for the same period a year ago, when the company was privately held.

He confirmed, however, that the subsidiary’s results include a non-recurring gain from the sale of a commercial complex west of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The filmed entertainment division, which includes the home-video operation and Disney Channel, reported operating income of $15.37 million, compared to a loss of $6.12 million a year ago.

At least one analyst, Lee Isgur of Paine Webber Mitchell Hutchins Inc. in New York, hailed those results as evidence that the Disney Channel is closer to its break-even point than forecast.

Since the pay-TV service was launched in April, 1983, Disney officials have said that they expect to break even when the Disney Channel reaches a subscriber count of 2 million, projected to occur by April.

Isgur said he estimates that the pay-TV service lost just $500,000 during the last quarter, compared to a loss of $11 million during the same period a year ago.

The analyst said that he believes that Disney has been able to reduce its marketing costs for the pay-TV service as a result of long-term deals recently completed with three major cable-TV operators.

Okun would not disclose the channel’s losses in the most recent quarter but did say that the service has “at least 1.6 million subscribers.”

In a change of policy, Disney officials refused to provide attendance numbers for their theme parks in California and Florida. Disney’s new management had concluded that the numbers “get undue emphasis and really do get misinterpreted,” said Okun.

Disney reported operating income of $26.48 million for the theme park unit, up 24%.

In its prepared release, the company said that operating results “improved” for Walt Disney World in Florida during the first quarter but omitted any reference to its Disneyland attraction in Anaheim.

Caterpillar Tractor Caterpillar Tractor Co. said it lost $428 million in 1984, its biggest annual loss and its third in a row.

The world’s leading maker of heavy construction equipment said the loss included sizable one-time charges due to layoffs, plant closings or consolidations and other changes made in Caterpillar’s struggle to return to profitability.

The 1984 loss compared to a loss of $325 million in 1983. Sales rose to $6.58 billion from $5.42 billion in 1983.

In the fourth quarter, Caterpillar posted a loss of $251 million, compared to a loss of $11 million a year earlier. Sales dipped to $1.66 billion from $1.7 billion.

The company also lost money in 1982, when it posted a $180-million loss. It was hobbled by a seven-month United Auto Workers strike that year.

Caterpillar posted a profit of $24 million in the second quarter.

The quarterly profit broke a seven-quarter string of losses. But in mid-September, company officials said their hopes for a profit for the full year had evaporated.

They blamed the change largely on continued price discounting to overseas dealers because of the strong dollar and similar discounts offered by Caterpillar’s chief rivals, led by Komatsu Ltd. of Japan.

Fannie Mae The Federal National Mortgage Assn., the quasi-private mortgage company known as Fannie Mae, reported that it lost $57.4 million in 1984, compared to earnings of $75.5 million in 1983.

The year-end results included a loss of $31.2 million in the fourth quarter, compared to earnings of $13.6 million in the year-earlier final quarter. Fannie Mae, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, has assets of about $85 billion. It operates by acquiring loans from primary lenders, such as savings and loans, in return for a fee.

Fannie Mae Chairman David O. Maxwell blamed the large losses on an unprofitable mortgage investment portfolio and charge-offs on foreclosed loans that increased to $87.3 million in 1984, more than double the 1983 total. The company has also seen an decrease in loan commitment fees.

Maxwell said Fannie Mae is attempting to become less interest-rate sensitive by acquiring more adjustable-rate mortgage loans. Adjustable-rate assets now total about $14.4 billion, an increase of $5 billion in the past 12 months, he said.