Gross Profit

Stung by heightened competition in its core mid-Atlantic market and an accounting change, the Ryland Group Inc. yesterday reported a net loss for 1995 of $2.6 million.The 31 cents per share loss, which Ryland had predicted in December because of the adoption of the accounting change, represents a stark contrast to the $24.5 million net income the Columbia-based company generated a year ago.Ryland was forced to take a $27 million, after-tax noncash charge in adopting Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB)

Spice maker McCormick & Co. reported Tuesday a 3 percent decline in its first-quarter profit, hurt by higher material costs. Net income for the three months ending Feb. 29 was $74.5 million, or 55 cents per share, compared with $76.8 million, or 57 cents per share, in the corresponding period last year. Sales rose 16 percent to $906.7 million, up from $782.8 million, with increases in the company's consumer and industrial businesses. The Sparks company said recent acquisitions in emerging markets completed last year drove a third of its sales.

When selling land, buildings or other investment property, an effective way to defer and possibly reduce taxes is through the use of an installment sale.An installment sale provides for part or all of the sales price to be paid in a later year. Effectively, the seller is financing the buyer's purchase instead of having the buyer obtain a bank loan.Profits on installment sales are deferred until the seller receives payments under the installment loan. Using the installment sales method may spread the seller's gain over several years and may result in a lower total tax. By taking only a portion of the gain into income each year, you may avoid reaching a higher tax bracket.

Sajid Chaudhry sells gasoline for a living, so with pump prices approaching $4 a gallon, you'd think he'd be celebrating. But the 10 stations he and his partners own in the Baltimore-Washington metro area aren't making them rich, as frustrated motorists assume they are. In fact, he says, profit for gasoline retailers can actually fall as gas prices go up, thanks to rising credit card fees, increased costs and intense competition for customers. The lucky ones make up for thin profits on gas by boosting sales of sandwiches, cigarettes and bottled water to motorists.

In what could be its last financial report as an independent company, Giant Food Inc. said yesterday that higher profit margins and lower costs boosted first-quarter profits by 34 percent.For the 12-week period that ended May 23, Landover-based Giant reported net income of $19.9 million, up from $14.9 million in the year-ago period. Earnings per share increased 32 percent, from 25 cents to 33 cents."They were just slightly ahead of our expectations," said Kurt Funderburg, a Baltimore-based analyst for Ferris Baker Watts.

The Ryland Group Inc., continuing a financial turnaround, yesterday reported that its third-quarter net profit climbed 36 percent.The Columbia-based homebuilder attributed the increase in net income -- to $9.2 million, or 61 cents a share, from $6.7 million, or 42 cents a share -- primarily to improved sales in new communities, higher profit margins, lower interest rates and the effectiveness of its land-buying and new-product strategies.Ryland's revenue in the quarter was $462.2 million, a 10 percent gain from last year.

The Ryland Group Inc. reported yesterday that its earnings more than doubled in the first three months of this year to $10.1 million, on the strength of the largest quarterly sales volume in the company's 32-year history.The Columbia homebuilder's first-quarter profit rose to 67 cents per share vs. 30 cents per share in the comparable period a year ago.With the positive results, Ryland's board opted to extend the contract of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer R. Chad Dreier through at least 2003.

After years of sometimes languid results, increased competition and sales setbacks, The Ryland Group Inc. proclaimed yesterday that it had turned a financial corner, and produced its best homebuilding earnings this decade as evidence.In the final quarter of 1997, the Columbia homebuilder generated net income of $9.5 million, 64 cents per share, a 91 percent gain from the same period a year ago. Revenue in the quarter rose 14.4 percent to just over $499 million.At the same time, Ryland's homebuilding operation reported record new orders that rose 33 percent to 2,059, and a 28 percent boost to 2,812 in its backlog of homes sold but not closed.

The auto industry closed the books on a good year, but it would have been a banner one if manufacturers had only figured out how to produce a 2-year-old car with 25,000 miles on the odometer, selling for $12,000.Used cars -- they're the hottest thing in the industry.It is estimated that dealers across the country will sell twice as many secondhand cars this year as new models. And for the first time since the automobile replaced the horse and buggy, franchise new-car dealers are making more profit from the sale of used cars than new.According to the National Automobile Dealers Association, the average gross profit on a new-car sale is $1,229, or $21 less than from the sale of a used car. In 1993, the average dealer gross was $93 more from the sale of a new car compared to the sale of a used vehicle.

The Ryland Group Inc., declaring its four-year turnaround effort complete, reported yesterday that its fourth-quarter net profit climbed 85 percent.The Columbia-based homebuilder attributed the increase in net income -- to $17.6 million, or $1.12 per diluted share, from $9.5 million, or 62 cents per diluted share in the year-earlier period -- to a well-executed strategic plan that was helped by a booming U.S. housing market.Ryland's earnings beat the 93-cent average forecast of six analysts surveyed by Zack's Investment Research.

Most Americans know what a jump-the-shark moment is - the point at which television viewers recognize that a widely liked show has reached its peak and is about to die. It's the beginning of the end. The phrase comes from an episode of Happy Days in which Arthur Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler's Fonzie) went water-skiing and jumped a shark. It was clear Happy Days had seen better days. I have my own expression: Jump the shower curtain. It has two meanings. It refers to the moment, experienced by average, working-class Americans, when they become so disgusted and jaded about corporate greed and the self-indulgences of the super-rich that they can no longer mount outrage about it. And it refers to the moment when an already rich person decides to gross everyone out by crossing into the grotesque.

IT WAS a great story while it lasted, but the quasi-Edwardian get-up known as the men's business suit has not made a big comeback. Workers are not rejecting Dockers for Brooks Brothers out of shame for the lax excesses of the 1990s or any other reason. There is no known correlation between casual Fridays and casual balance sheets. The first Enron guy to plead guilty, Michael Kopper, wore Armani. Sales of "tailored menswear" fell by 1 percent last year, says New York researcher NPD Group.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. broke monthly sales records in December as it continued reversing a sales slump from earlier last year, the retailer said yesterday. The Hampstead-based men's specialty chain reported total sales of $30.4 million -- the highest ever in a single month. Sales at stores open at least a year -- a key indicator of financial health -- jumped 9 percent, one of the biggest increases on a month-over-month basis in the past two years. "It's one of the best percentage increases we've ever had," said Robert N. Wildrick, chief executive officer.

The Ryland Group Inc. reported yesterday that its earnings more than doubled in the first three months of this year to $10.1 million, on the strength of the largest quarterly sales volume in the company's 32-year history.The Columbia homebuilder's first-quarter profit rose to 67 cents per share vs. 30 cents per share in the comparable period a year ago.With the positive results, Ryland's board opted to extend the contract of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer R. Chad Dreier through at least 2003.

The Ryland Group Inc., declaring its four-year turnaround effort complete, reported yesterday that its fourth-quarter net profit climbed 85 percent.The Columbia-based homebuilder attributed the increase in net income -- to $17.6 million, or $1.12 per diluted share, from $9.5 million, or 62 cents per diluted share in the year-earlier period -- to a well-executed strategic plan that was helped by a booming U.S. housing market.Ryland's earnings beat the 93-cent average forecast of six analysts surveyed by Zack's Investment Research.

The Ryland Group Inc., continuing a financial turnaround, yesterday reported that its third-quarter net profit climbed 36 percent.The Columbia-based homebuilder attributed the increase in net income -- to $9.2 million, or 61 cents a share, from $6.7 million, or 42 cents a share -- primarily to improved sales in new communities, higher profit margins, lower interest rates and the effectiveness of its land-buying and new-product strategies.Ryland's revenue in the quarter was $462.2 million, a 10 percent gain from last year.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. broke monthly sales records in December as it continued reversing a sales slump from earlier last year, the retailer said yesterday. The Hampstead-based men's specialty chain reported total sales of $30.4 million -- the highest ever in a single month. Sales at stores open at least a year -- a key indicator of financial health -- jumped 9 percent, one of the biggest increases on a month-over-month basis in the past two years. "It's one of the best percentage increases we've ever had," said Robert N. Wildrick, chief executive officer.

Ryland Group Inc. yesterday reported dramatically improved results for the third quarter, compared with a year ago, led by gains in homebuilding and decreases in its expenses.The Columbia-based homebuilder's nearly six-fold increase in net earnings in the quarter -- to $4.5 million -- marks the third consecutive quarter that it has posted better gross profit margins, a key gauge of a homebuilder's financial health. Revenues in the quarter ended Sept. 30 were flat, at $402.5 million, driven mainly by higher average closing prices for its homes.

In what could be its last financial report as an independent company, Giant Food Inc. said yesterday that higher profit margins and lower costs boosted first-quarter profits by 34 percent.For the 12-week period that ended May 23, Landover-based Giant reported net income of $19.9 million, up from $14.9 million in the year-ago period. Earnings per share increased 32 percent, from 25 cents to 33 cents."They were just slightly ahead of our expectations," said Kurt Funderburg, a Baltimore-based analyst for Ferris Baker Watts.

After years of sometimes languid results, increased competition and sales setbacks, The Ryland Group Inc. proclaimed yesterday that it had turned a financial corner, and produced its best homebuilding earnings this decade as evidence.In the final quarter of 1997, the Columbia homebuilder generated net income of $9.5 million, 64 cents per share, a 91 percent gain from the same period a year ago. Revenue in the quarter rose 14.4 percent to just over $499 million.At the same time, Ryland's homebuilding operation reported record new orders that rose 33 percent to 2,059, and a 28 percent boost to 2,812 in its backlog of homes sold but not closed.