TWA Trims Its Loss in 4th Quarter
Trans World Airlines Inc. posted a smaller loss for the fourth quarter, its first full quarter out of bankruptcy, as operating expenses fell 18%.
The St. Louis-based carrier’s loss narrowed to $27.8 million from $245.2 million for the fourth quarter of 1994. The ’95 period includes a $3.5-million after-tax gain from the cancellation of debt at the Trans World Express Inc. commuter subsidiary.
For the year-earlier period, TWA had charges totaling $161.8 million.
The airline lost 77 cents a share on a fully distributed basis in the fourth quarter. The figure assumes all the stock granted to employees in TWA’s restructuring has been distributed but excludes the cost of those shares. TWA has been 30% owned by its employees since it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August.
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Columbia/HCA Healthcare, the big operator of hospitals and outpatient medical services, said fourth-quarter profit rose 24%, largely because of a strong increase in the number of patients.
The company earned $354 million, or 79 cents a share, for the three months ending in December, compared with $286 million, or 64 cents a share, for the same period of 1994. Revenues rose 17% to $4.6 billion, against $3.9 billion for the ’94 period.
Columbia/HCA, with 343 hospitals, is the largest for-profit U.S. hospital company.
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Healthsource outpaced Humana in its fourth-quarter earnings increase from the year-earlier quarter, with the two presenting divergent pictures of enrollment changes in their managed-care plans.
Healthsource, a fast-growing managed-care company in Hookset, N.H., said its net income rose 44%, as expected. Fourth-quarter earnings edged 2% higher at Humana, the nation’s second-largest managed-care company.
Healthsource said it had net income of $15.9 million, or 22 cents a share, for the quarter, compared with $11 million, or 17 cents, for the year-earlier period. The per-share earnings reflect a 2-for-1 stock split on Dec. 15.
Humana said its fourth-quarter profit rose 2.1% because of an acquisition and because enrollment is slowing in one of its major health-care plans. The Louisville, Ky.-based company said net income rose to $49 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with $48 million, or 30 cents, for the year-ago quarter.
Whereas Healthsource’s quarterly earnings were in line with analysts’ expectations, Humana’s earnings were 1 cent better than Wall Street estimates.
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PolyGram said its 1995 net profit rose less than 1%, as the company failed to produce second-half blockbuster music hits and its movies failed to match the success of 1994’s “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”
The Dutch recording and film company said its net profit rose 0.4% to $449 million for 1995 from $447 million a year earlier. The results are in line with a warning in December that its profit for ’95 would be little changed.
At a Glance:
In other earnings news, the world’s largest soup company, Campbell Soup said its net income rose to $258 million, or $1.03 a share, from $231 million, or 93 cents, a year ago. . . . Woodland Hills-based 20th Century Industries reported fourth-quarter earnings, excluding gains from investment sales, of $17.8 million, or 30 cents a share, compared with a loss of $48.7 million, or 95 cents, a year earlier.
