THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190566
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
Fatter profits from fresh pork, processed meats and hog production helped boost Smithfield Foods' earnings for the first three months of its fiscal year, the company said Thursday.
The Smithfield-based meatpacker said profits were $2.4 million, or 13 cents per share, for its fiscal 1995 first quarter, which ended July 31. That compares to a loss of $369,000, or 3 cents per share, for the same period in the previous fiscal year.
The company said it added about $1.3 million, or 7 cents per share, to its earnings by changing the way it depreciates assets.
``I don't think this is the end of their growth, and I think they are out of their turnaround phase,'' said George F. Shipp, an analyst in the Norfolk office of the brokerage concern Scott & Stringfellow Inc. ``I would say it was a good solid quarter.''
It was the third consecutive quarter of improved year-to-year earnings for Smithfield, which floundered for two years earlier because of lower profit margins on sales of fresh pork and the costs of opening and expanding facilities.
``All signs point to continued improved profitability in the second quarter of fiscal 1995,'' said Joseph W. Luter II, chairman, president and chief executive officer.
The company's hog-slaughtering plant in Bladen County, N.C., posted significant increases after more than a year of floundering. The $76 million plant opened in October 1992.
``It really is what was responsible for pulling earnings down before,'' said Aaron D. Trub, vice president. ``I think basically our feeling is that the struggle we had with opening the brand-new plant is over.''
Sales for the first quarter of fiscal 1995 rose 14 percent to $342.7 million from $299.2 million in the same period a year ago.
Smithfield Foods' brands include Luter's, Gwaltney, Esskay, Hamilton's, Valleydale and Mash's.
Smithfield's stock closed Thursday at $30.37 a share, up 62 cents, in trading on NASDAQ's National Market System. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
STAFF
SMITHFIELD FOODS INC.
SOURCE: Smithfield Foods Inc.
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB