Halliburton Posts Net Loss

Halliburton Co. reported a first-quarter net loss Wednesday because of a charge related to a pending settlement of asbestos claims.

The oil-field services conglomerate’s net loss of $65 million, or 15 cents a share, contrasts with net income of $43 million, or 10 cents, in the year-earlier period. The latest results included a net loss from discontinued operations of $141 million, or 32 cents, related to the $4.2-billion asbestos and silica settlement announced in 2002.

Halliburton, based in Houston, said profit from continuing operations totaled $76 million, or 17 cents a share, and was hurt by a charge of $62 million, or 14 cents, related to a project off the coast of Brazil.

Excluding one-time items, the results came in at 29 cents a share, a penny shy of the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

Revenue surged 77% to $5.5 billion from $3.1 billion a year earlier, a gain largely attributed to subsidiary KBR and government contract work in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.