Newhall Land Says Profit Down 74% in 4th Quarter

Newhall Land & Farming Co., still impacted by the slumping real estate market, said its fourth-quarter profit tumbled 74% from a year earlier on a 13% decline in revenue.

The real estate and agricultural concern, which is developing the master planned community of Valencia in Santa Clarita, said net income in the quarter that ended Dec. 31 fell to $4.26 million from $16.4 million a year earlier. Its revenue dropped to $55.3 million from $63.5 million.

The latest results “were under pressure” because of “sluggish demand for commercial and industrial real estate, and continued weakness in residential land prices,” Newhall Chairman Thomas L. Lee said in a statement.

The company’s real estate operations also are expected “to remain under pressure during 1993” because of the soft real estate market, Lee said.

For all of 1992, Newhall’s profit fell 43%, to $17.2 million from $30.1 million the prior year, and its annual revenue was off 15%, to $128.2 million from $150.8 million.