Thursday, bananas and fresh produce provider Chiquita Brands International, Inc. (CQB) reported a rise in second-quarter profit compared to the previous year period, driven by higher banana prices and cost savings.
The Cincinnati, Ohio-based company's second-quarter net income increased to $62.1 million or $1.37 per share, from $8.6 million or $0.20 per share in the same quarter a year ago.
Income from continuing operations for the quarter was $59.5 million or $1.31 per share, compared to $5.4 million or $0.12 per share in the year-ago period.
On average, four analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected earnings of $1.09 per share for the quarter.
Quarterly net sales increased 6% to $994.6 million from $934.0 million in the prior-year quarter, but came much below analysts' estimate of $1.31 billion.
The increase in sales was primarily due to higher banana pricing and a favorable euro exchange rate, offset by lower banana volumes principally reflecting industry-wide constraints on volume availability.
Net sales of the bananas segment increased 17% to $563 million and net sales of salads and healthy snacks segment increased 4% to $350 million. However, net sales of other produce declined 30% to $82 million due to the elimination of third-party sales in Chile and lower-margin sales of Mexican vegetables.
For the first six months of fiscal 2008, the company reported a net income of $93.8 million, or $2.10 per share, compared to $5.2 million, or $0.12 per share in the first half of previous fiscal.
Income from continuing operations for the six-month period was $91.9 million or $2.06 per share, compared to $2.7 million or $0.06 per share in the same period previous year.
Half-yearly net sales grew to $1.93 billion from $1.84 billion last year.
The company continues to expect improvement in sales and operating income from continuing operations for the full-year 2008 compared to the full-year 2007, primarily due to contract and market price increases and the benefits of restructuring, which are more than offsetting increases in industry and other product supply costs.
CQB closed Thursday's trading on NYSE at $15.35, down $0.65, or 4.06%.
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