Kaiser Posts Third Straight Profit As Expected, Earnings Decline From Pace Of Second Quarter

Kaiser Aluminum Corp. an nounced its third straight profitable quarter Thursday, but as the company predicted last month, third-quarter earnings declined from the second quarter.

Kaiser reported net income of $12.5 million, or 14 cents per common share, on sales of $550.3 million during the third quarter. That compares with a net loss of $20.8 million, or 45 cents per common share, on sales of $461.1 million during the third quarter of 1994.

The company earned $23 million during the second quarter of 1995.

The improvement over the third quarter of 1994, according to George T. Haymaker, Kaiser’s chairman and chief executive officer, reflects improved prices for alumina, primary aluminum and fabricated aluminum products.

The decline from the second quarter, Haymaker added, “reflects lower shipments of alumina due to the timing of cargo vessel departures from company facilities; a decline in shipments of fabricated aluminum products, particularly can sheet, for which demand has softened; and a series of other expenses and previously announced non-recurring events and investment-related expenditures.”

For the first nine months of 1995, Kaiser’s net income was $39.3 million, or 46 cents per common share, on sales of $1.65 billion. That compares with a net loss of $79.1 million, or $1.62 per common share, on sales of $1.3 billion during the first nine months of 1994.

Haymaker said the results for the first nine months of 1995 reflect first-quarter expenses of about $17 million associated with an eight-day strike at the company’s U.S. facilities and a six-day strike at a facility in Jamaica.

Kaiser, which with plants at Mead and Trentwood is Spokane County’s largest manufacturing employer, is one of the world’s leading producers of alumina, primary aluminum and fabricated aluminum products. Houston-based Maxxam Inc. owns 62 percent of Kaiser.

, DataTimes