BellSouth said its first-quarter profit climbed 22.4%...
BellSouth said its first-quarter profit climbed 22.4% from a year earlier on a 10% rise in revenue. MCI Communications, meanwhile, said its first-quarter earnings jumped more than sixfold from a year earlier, thanks largely to a one-time gain related to the partial settlement of two lawsuits. Atlanta-based BellSouth said its latest results included a one-time charge against earnings of $77.5 million resulting from a previously announced court-ordered refund by its South Central Bell unit. The company said the first quarter also benefited from its cost-control effort. MCI, a provider of long-distance telephone service, said its first-quarter profits included a $63-million gain related to a settlement with US West of portions of two antitrust suits against the former Bell System. MCI said its first-quarter results also included a $50.5-million write-off of equipment that performed pre-programmed dialing for some of its long-distance customers. The year-earlier profit included similar write-off of $49.8 million.
CalFed and Gibraltar Financial, two of the nation’s biggest savings and loan holding companies, reported record quarterly earnings. CalFed, parent of California Federal S&L;, posted first-quarter earnings of $23.5 million, an increase of 11.4% over a year ago. Chief Executive George P. Rutland said the gains resulted from favorable interest-rate margins and came despite a $4.5-million assessment by federal S&L; insurance regulators. Gibraltar’s net jumped 46% on the strength of interest margins and a switch to a greater proportion of adjustable-rate mortgage loans. Profits at the Beverly Hills-based S&L; rose from $8.2 million a year ago to $12 million. “We expect 1985 to show improvement over 1984, although the percentage gain may not equal that achieved in the first quarter,” Gibraltar Chairman Herbert J. Young said.
Trans World Airlines said it had a net loss of $74.3 million in the first quarter of 1985, an improvement from the $87.3-million loss last year. The airline said the latest quarter included an extraordinary gain of $11.7 million from an equity-for-debt exchange. C. E. Meyer Jr., TWA’s president, said the first quarter operating loss of $72.2 million was $4.1 million less that of last year because of a revenue windfall from the strike of Pan American World Airways during March.
Union Carbide, faced with staggering lawsuits and compensation for victims of history’s worst chemical disaster, reported a $36-million drop in first-quarter income, down 34% from last year. Union Carbide blamed the decline primarily on a drop in domestic and foreign sales from last year.
Transamerica reported a 33% decline in earnings for the first quarter ended March 31. The 1985 quarter included an $18-million after-tax gain from the previously announced sale of Transamerica Mortgage. The company attributed the lower profits to continuing losses in its property/casualty insurance business.
Safeway Stores reported that net income for the 12 weeks ended March 23 increased 4.5% over the like 1984 quarter. Revenue rose 3.4%. Safeway noted that there was continued improvement by its U.S. operations. The company also reported lower earnings from its Canadian operations.
For detailed data and results of other companies, please see accompanying tables.
