Boeing Profit Hurt by Fewer Plane Deliveries

Boeing Co.’s third-quarter profit dropped 9% as fewer aircraft deliveries dragged revenue down, the aerospace company said Monday.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, Boeing had net earnings of $364 million, or $1.07 a share, on sales of $6.9 billion, compared with profit of $401 million, or $1.17 a share, on sales of $7.66 billion in third-quarter 1991.

The poor economy has resulted in some airlines asking to postpone deliveries, Boeing said, although some deferred deliveries have been offset by new orders and by other airlines taking their new planes sooner.

The Seattle-based company still has a backlog of orders worth $88.2 billion, down from $92.8 billion at the start of the year.

On its military and space side, Boeing received a $588-million contract in the third quarter to refit 120 more Navy A-6 attack jets with new wings, and shared a $550-million award with Bell Helicopter Textron to continue work on the V-22 Osprey.

Procter & Gamble Co.’s profit dropped nearly 20% in the July-September quarter after it recorded a charge of $200 million to cover the cost of leaving the juice business, the company said Monday.

Earnings for the quarter, the first in P&G;’s fiscal year, were $431, or 60 cents per share, on sales of $7.88 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company earned $536 million, or 76 cents per share, on sales of $7.2 billion.

Without the $200-million charge, the company’s earnings rose 17%.

Cincinnati-based P&G; attributed the increased earning and sales to higher unit volume overseas, lower costs and improved profit margins in the United States, and favorable foreign exchange rates.

Computer Sciences Corp. said second-quarter net income rose 22%, to $17.1 million, or $1.03 a share, from $14 million, or 85 cents, in the year-ago period.

Results in the latest quarter exceeded a mean earnings estimate of 98 cents a share, according to a Zacks Investment Research survey of nine analysts.

Revenue in the quarter ended Oct. 2 increased to $616 million from $467.4 million a year earlier.

Computer Services, a computer services company, said commercial revenue rose 81% in the latest quarter, to $310.2 million from $171.4 million a year earlier. The increase reflected acquisitions, new business and internal growth, the El Segundo firm said.

Continental Airlines Holding Inc. blamed the summer air-fare war for most of its third-quarter loss of $29.5 million, or 64 cents a share, which was nearly 50% greater than its year-ago loss of $19.7 million, or 43 cents a share.

Continental Airlines, the Houston-based holding company’s primary subsidiary, posted a third-quarter loss of $40.5 million, compared to a loss of $37.3 million a year ago.

The holding company had a third-quarter operating loss of $2.3 million, contrasted with operating income of $25.5 million a year ago. The airline had an operating loss of $16.3 million, contrasted with operating income of $3.4 million in the third quarter of 1991.