Gulf & Western Posts 6% Higher Profit for Quarter

Gulf & Western, the financial services, entertainment, publishing and information conglomerate, said Wednesday that its earnings increased by 6% in the third quarter of its fiscal year.

The company said it earned $82.1 million on revenue of $1 billion during the three-month period ended July 31. This compared to a profit of $77.3 million on $829.2 million in revenue in its 1985 third quarter.

For the nine months, Gulf & Western said its earnings were up 8.5% to $162 million on revenue of $2.8 billion. In the same 1985 period, the company earned $177.1 million on $2.5 billion in revenue.

The company noted that its third-quarter 1985 profit included earnings of $31.2 million from discontinued operations--the consumer and industrial products group sold in September, 1985. It said the 20% increase in the latest per-share earnings, to $1.31 from $1.09, included 44 cents per share from discontinued operations.

Company officials said Gulf & Western’s financial services operations, mainly Associates Corp. of North America, contributed the most to its overall earnings.

In its publishing and information services group, Simon & Schuster and Silver Burdett Co. reported higher results.

The company’s entertainment operations also reported sharply higher profits, led by the feature films “Top Gun” and “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” the company said.