Middletown, Ohio-based Armco Inc. said its loss...
Middletown, Ohio-based Armco Inc. said its loss for the full year narrowed to $295 million from a $672.5-million loss a year earlier. However, the diversified metals manufacturer said its fourth-quarter loss widened to $64.5 million from $46.8 million a year earlier, blaming a surge in imported steel. The company has sold some financial-services subsidiaries, is trying to market others and has sold its West Virginia coal operations in the past year.
Kroger Co. announced that, despite its having sold or closed 156 grocery stores in 1984, sales remained strong and earnings for the year rose 23.3% on a 4.5% gain in revenue. The company said earnings for the final quarter of 1984 rose 34%. Chairman Lyle Everingham attributed the increases to a strong performance by the Cincinnati-based firm’s grocery stores and lower operating costs. Kroger’s Dillon Cos. and SupeRx drug stores subsidiaries also showed significant gains in sales and earnings.
Gannett Co. said that, despite heavy investments in its USA Today newspaper, its fourth-quarter profits rose 23% from a year earlier and were up 17% for all of 1984. The corporation owns 85 daily newspapers, six television stations and 16 radio stations. In a letter to shareholders, Gannett Chairman Allen H. Neuharth said earnings continued to increase “despite continuing heavy investment in start-up and operating costs for USA Today.” However, advertising volume for the 2-year-old national newspaper increased 78% over the fourth quarter of 1983, and the newspaper’s operating losses declined in the quarter-to-quarter comparison. A company official said it was the first such decline since USA Today was started.
Georgia-Pacific Corp. said it lost $99 million in the fourth quarter, primarily because of a loss from discontinued chemical operations. But the major timber and wood-products company added that its profit for the full year rose 13% in 1984 from a year earlier, despite the $134-million loss from discontinued operations. “Georgia-Pacific was able to perform very well in very competitive markets in 1984,” said T. Marshall Hahn Jr., chairman and chief executive of the Atlanta-based firm.
For detailed data and results of other companies, please see accompanying tables.
