|
CNNfn after the bell
|
 |
August 31, 1999: 9:17 p.m. ET
PETsMART chairman resigns, while Day Runner on the run from Street
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A leading pet-supply retailer posted results and bid farewell to its chairman after the bell on Tuesday, while a maker of organizers missed expectations.
PETsMART Inc.
PETsMART Inc. (PETM), the No.1 U.S. specialty retailer of pet supplies, was barking out second- quarter results and announced that chairman Samuel J. Parker was going to bow-wow out.
Excluding charges totaling $4 million, the Phoenix-based company posted a profit of $5.8 million or 5 cents per share, missing First Call's estimate of 6 cents per share.
Including the costs, the company reported net income of $2 million or 2 cents per share compared to a net loss for the second quarter of 1998 of $1.7 million or 1 cent per share, which include $4.7 million in certain costs.
PETsMART reported a profit of $2.5 million or 2 cents per share in the year ago period. Sales for the quarter were $564.5 million, a 10.7 percent increase over the same period last year.
For the first six months of the year, the company reported net income of $5.6 million or 5 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $1.5 million or 1 cent per share for the first half of 1998. Consolidated net sales increased 12.1 percent to $1.1 billion from $1 billion for the first two quarters of last year.
Separately, the company announced Parker's retirement. Parker, who joined PETsMART in 1989 as president and chief executive officer, was named chairman of the board in 1993. He initially retired as CEO in 1995, but retained his position as chairman of the board. From 1997, through February 1998 he again served as chairman and CEO.
Day Runner Inc.
Day Runner Inc. (DAYR), a leading maker of paper-based organizers, was on the run after missing Wall Street's expectations and correcting some errors that forced the Irvine, Calif.-based company to restate its results for the first three quarters.
Day Runner reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $5.2 million or 44 cents per share, significantly missing First Call's estimate of an 18 cents per share loss. Day Runner reported a profit of $4.9 million or 39 cents per diluted share in the year ago period.
Sales for the quarter were $47.7 million, down 6.3 percent from the same reporting period last year. The company said the decline in sales was primarily due to adverse effects of inventory tightening by major U.S. customers.
The company reported a net loss of $3.9 million or 34 cents per share for fiscal 1999 compared with net income of $15.9 million or $1.27 per diluted share for fiscal 1998.
Excluding the one-time costs for the acquisition of Filofax, the net loss for fiscal 1999 would have been $3.4 million or 28 cents per share.
CEO James Freeman Jr. said that the year-end audit the company discovered errors related to the treatment of manufacturing variances and other costs. Because of the errors, the company is restating its results for the first through third quarters.
The restatements reduce net income in the first and second quarters by $1.3 million and $872,000 respectively and decrease the company's net loss in the third quarter by $117,000.
Finally, Day Runner after announcing in July it may seek an acquirer for the company, followed up Tuesday by saying several bidders had expressed interest.
Flowers Industries Inc.
Baked foods company Flowers Industries Inc. (FLO) was feeling the heat after it revised its second-quarter results downward due to changes in the second-quarter accounts receivable figures of its Mrs. Smith's Bakeries unit.
The company, which owns 55 percent of Keebler Foods Co. (KBL), said it revised its second-quarter results to a loss of $2.9 million or $.03 per diluted share before a non-recurring charge at Keebler from a reported profit of $9.8 million or 10 cents per diluted share before the Keebler charge.
The revised second-quarter results include higher reserves for customer deductions previously believed collectible and trade promotions, the company said.
The company added that that it expects to have a "clearer picture of Mrs. Smith's performance for the remainder of the year once the newly installed manufacturing lines are achieving production levels required to meet fourth quarter demands."
Whitman Corp.
Whitman Corp. (WH), the nation's second largest Pepsi soft drink bottler, said it would cut jobs and take a charge in its third quarter.
"We're going to eliminate about 200 positions after the selling season and take a charge that's going to be in the ball park of $2.5 million," said Chuck Connolly, Whitman spokesman.
Connolly said the employees, who were mostly delivery route drivers and those who service vending machines, had already been notified of the job cuts.
The jobs were eliminated after Whitman acquired some domestic and foreign distribution territories from PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) in the second quarter, Connolly said.
MMC Networks
Networking equipment maker MMC Networks (MMCN) said its fourth-quarter 1999 and fiscal 2000 revenues may suffer because of IBM Corp.'s planned exit from the network switch/router business.
MMC said its fourth-quarter revenues could fall by 5-10 percent. Earlier Tuesday, IBM (IBM) announced a five-year agreement with Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) to provide a full spectrum of network integration services to Cisco's corporate customers and telecommunications services suppliers.
Investor concerns about the agreement sent shares of MMC more than 40 percent lower on Tuesday. The company's stock fell $19.13 to close at $30.88 on Nasdaq.
Since IBM represented 23 percent of MMC's second-quarter revenues, the company is faced with a reduction of fourth-quarter and fiscal 2000 revenue, MMC said in a statement.
Check the S&P futures trading on Globex
Read the latest story from the markets in Asia
Wednesday Preview
Investors may want to watch Tyco International Ltd. (TYC), which agreed to buy AFC Cable Systems Inc. (AFCX) for about $575 million in stock, just days after AFC rejected a lower offer from Thomas & Betts Corp. (TNB).
Also, Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) took the wraps off of a Web-based business software applications package Tuesday it hopes will steal market share from Microsoft's Office software suite.
And 3-D graphics systems maker nVidia (NVDA) unveiled its next generation graphics accelerator, which it hopes will deflect some of the attention from new console gaming machines.
On the economic front, the July construction spending figures are slated for release. The estimate calls for a 0.5 percent increase. The previous report also saw a 0.5 percent rise.
Also, the leading indicators report for July is scheduled for release. Estimates call for a 0.3 percent increase, which would match the previous report's rise.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
