WestCoast reports surge in earnings

Spokane-based WestCoast Hospitality Corp. announced sharply higher earnings Thursday, saying its results were buoyed by higher occupancy and room rates at its hotels.

WestCoast’s Red Lion hotels – the majority of the 68 properties the company owns, leases or manages – performed especially well, prompting President and CEO Arthur Coffey to say the company will “take advantage of this momentum to increase our development and franchising of Red Lion hotels.”

The company announced second-quarter net income of $1.7 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with income of $800,000, or 6 cents a share, in the same period a year ago.

WestCoast’s revenue per available room, a key measure of financial health in the hotel industry, increased 8.5 percent, to $47.64. That measure increased 9 percent for WestCoast’s Red Lion-branded hotels.

WestCoast has announced it will spend $40 million to renovate its Red Lion properties; the company said Thursday that should be a good investment.

“We look forward to the positive impacts we expect these upgrades will bring,” Coffey said in a press release.

WestCoast’s shares rose 24 cents to close at $7.09 Thursday.

Other companies announcing earnings Thursday included:

• MetLife Inc., one of the nation’s biggest insurance companies, said Thursday its second-quarter profit more than doubled, driven by strong gains across its business lines. Its shares soared more than 5 percent in late trading, after the results were released.

The company reported earnings of $2.2 billion, or $3.02 per share, compared to $954 million, or $1.26 per share, in the same period last year. Excluding investment gains and other items, MetLife posted operating earnings of $869 million, or $1.17 per share.

Revenue rose to $10.94 billion, up from $9.47 billion last year. The results surpassed Wall Street projections for earnings of 92 cents per share, according to analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

• Wendy’s International Inc.’s earnings dropped 1 percent in the second quarter but beat Wall Street’s expectations for a period in which the third-largest hamburger chain’s sales were hurt by false accusations that a woman found a finger in her chili.

The operator of Wendy’s restaurants and the doughnut chain Tim Hortons said Thursday it earned $70.8 million, or 61 cents per share, for the three months ended July 3, compared with $71.6 million, or 62 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenues grew to $951 million from $908.9 million.

Wendy’s said earlier this month that sales at its company-owned burger restaurants open at least a year dropped by 4.6 percent in the second quarter, while same-store sales at franchised restaurants slipped 3.9 percent. The company said half the decline was due to the woman’s claim that she found the finger while eating at a Wendy’s in northern California in late March. Authorities have charged the woman with making up the story to extort money from Wendy’s.

• MGM Mirage Inc., the world’s second-largest casino operator, said Thursday quarterly profit climbed 35 percent, boosted by the recent acquisition of Mandalay Resort Group. Its shares rose nearly 5 percent, hitting an all-time high.

Second-quarter net income rose to $141.2 million, or 48 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30 from $104.7 million, or 36 cents per share, a year earlier. Earnings from continuing operations totaled $137.4 million, or 46 cents per share, excluding certain non-operating items.

With Mandalay, MGM Mirage is second only to Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. in the casino business.

• Houston-based Waste Management Inc., the nation’s largest trash hauler, said Thursday that second-quarter profit more than doubled on one-time gains, but warned that earnings for the full year may fall at the low end of guidance. Its shares fell.

The company also said it will divest under-performing or non-strategic operations, primarily collection businesses and transfer stations. To date, operations identified for sale represent more than $400 million in annual revenue.

Net income rose to $527 million, or 92 cents per share, from $216 million, or 37 cents per share, a year earlier. Results included gains from tax expense reductions on audit settlements and the sale of operations. Excluding items, the company reported net income of $219 million, or 38 cents per share, in the latest quarter.

• United Airlines’ Chicago-based parent corporation said Thursday it lost $1.43 billion during the second quarter, nearly all of which was related to its ongoing effort to exit bankruptcy this fall.

The carrier said it recorded a $1.4 billion charge for reorganization items, including $602 million in costs stemming from turning over its employee pension plans to the federal government’s pension insurer.

Bankruptcy protection likely will shield United from paying more than a small fraction of the restructuring costs, the company said.

The carrier has lost more than $7 billion since it entered bankruptcy in December 2002.

Excluding the reorganization costs, United’s operating earnings grew to $48 million in the quarter from $7 million last year – despite $262 million in higher fuel costs.