Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. (FDP), a farm products company, Tuesday reported a decline in fourth-quarter profit, hurt by lower sales as well as impairment and other charges, reflecting the absence of foreign exchange gains and gains from the sale of assets recorded in the prior-year quarter.
The company's quarterly net income declined to $22.9 million or $0.36 per share from $34.4 million or $0.56 per share in the previous year.
Asset impairment and other charges, net, for the fourth quarter of 2008, relates mainly to asset impairment and clean up charges as a result of extensive flooding in the company's banana operations in Costa Rica. Excluding asset impairment and other charges, earnings were $0.41 per share, down from $0.68 per share in the prior-year quarter.
On average, five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.37 per share for the quarter.
Net sales for the quarter decreased to $831 million from $848.2 million a year ago, mainly due to lower sales in the company's prepared food business segment. Analysts' expected revenues of $876.4 million for the quarter. Cost of products sold increased to $761.6 million from $772.8 million last year.
For the full year, the company's net income declined to $157.7 million or $2.48 per share from $179.8 million or $3.06 per share in the previous year. Excluding asset impairment and other charges, net earnings per share for the full year were $2.82, compared with earnings per share of $3.22 for fiscal 2007.
Net sales for the year increased to $3.531 billion from $3.365 billion in the prior year.
FDP closed Monday's regular trading at $19.44 on the NYSE.
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