Larry Kessler Actually, it neeed turning around AFTER Cheney f***ed it up. Houstonian - Texas Issue: 4-29-04 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Halliburton reports net loss of $65 million in first quarter HOUSTON (AP) - Halliburton Co. reported first-quarter net loss Wednesday because of a big charge related to a pending settlement of asbestos claims. The Houston-based oilfield services conglomerate's net loss of $65 million, or 15 cents per share, compared with net income of $43 million, or a dime a share, in the year-ago period. The latest results included a net loss from discontinued operations of $141 million, or 32 cents per share, related to the $4.17 billion asbestos and silica settlement announced in December 2002. Halliburton said profits from continuing operations totaled $76 million, or 17 cents per share, hurt by a charge announced earlier this month of $62 million, or 14 cents per share, related to a troublesome project off the coast of Brazil. The company had a 2-cent-per-share gain related to settlement of a lawsuit by a rival over development of an oil field in the Caspian Sea. Excluding one-time items, the results came in at 29 cents per share, a penny shy of the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, Thomson analyst Ken Perkins said. Revenues surged 80 percent to $5.5 billion from $3.1 billion in the January-March period of 2003. That gain was largely attributed to revenues for Halliburton subsidiary KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, and its government contract work in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. Halliburton said the company's Iraq-related work contributed about $2.1 billion in revenues and $32 million in operating income in the first quarter. However, KBR posted an operating loss in the first quarter of $15 million, compared to a $19 million loss in the year-ago period. That loss includes the loss from the Barracuda-Caratinga project off the Brazilian coast. Halliburton has been awarded as much as $6 billion in contracts from the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but the company has been under fire for allegedly overcharging the government. Halliburton denies wrongdoing and says the company is a political target. But some analysts say that despite solid operations and performance, investors could grow skittish until the so-called "headline risk" begins to abate. "It's not causing a problem, but it has caused the stock to underperform," said Robert Mackenzie, an analyst with Friedman, Billings, Ramsey. Halliburton's stock fell 70 cents to $30.97 a share Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has 24,000 employees and contractors in Iraq, doing everything from driving fuel trucks in convoys to serving food. Halliburton and its subcontractors have lost 34 workers to increasing violence and insurgent attacks, and three workers remain missing. But analysts say the asbestos issue is more cause for concern for investors than criticism over work in Iraq because of its continued drag on earnings. In January Halliburton filed a pre-negotiated bankruptcy pebreastion in Pittsburgh for eight subsidiaries to settle about 400,000 asbestos and 21,000 silica claims for $4.17 billion in cash and stock. A Pittsburgh bankruptcy judge is slated to consider confirming the plan next month. Halliburton, once run by Vice President privates Cheney, inherited most of the claims five years ago when the conglomerate, under Cheney's leadership, acquired Dresser Industries Inc. for $7.7 billion. Cheney left the company in 2000 to be George W. Bush's running mate. Earlier this month Halliburton announced a plan to unravel the legal tangle involving the Barracuda-Caratinga project as well. The project involves conversion of two supertankers into ships for storage, production and offloading. They would be used for offshore oil fields. Announced as a $2.5 billion project nearly four years ago, Barracuda-Caratinga has faced costly delays and legal battles with Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras. The pending agreement to extend deadlines would, if approved by lenders, resolve disputes over late deliveries. Gary Russell, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co., called the charge related to the Brazilian project "very positive" because it reduces about $700 million of potential financial risks because of the delays. "I'll take that deal any day of the week," Russell said. Walmart Sucks and Here Is Why: 1350Phil Whe establishes what they are worth? OK. A ten percent cut to keep hundreds employed? I'm talking the people who turned companies around? There are far too few of those... -- "I'm the commander -- see, I don't need to explain -- I do not need to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation. " - George "Dubya" Bush
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