Castle & Cooke Profit Increases 53%

Castle & Cooke Inc. improved its second-quarter profit by 53%, buoyed by stronger sales of new homes on Oahu, Hawaii, the company said Monday.

The Los Angeles-based residential and commercial developer reported a net profit of $4 million, or 23 cents a share, compared with $2.6 million, or 13 cents a share, in the 1998 second quarter. Second-quarter revenue of $81.9 million was up from $69.5 million in the same quarter last year.

The disproportionately high increase in per-share profit resulted from a stock buy-back that reduced the number of shares outstanding.