Net Loss

Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced yesterday that its co-founder, Craig R. Smith, will retire early next year as the company's chairman, chief executive and president, to make way for a new chief executive with a deeper finance background for the Baltimore-based biotechnology company. Smith said he intends to remain at Guilford's helm until the company's annual meeting next spring unless a successor is found sooner. Even after his retirement, Smith will remain a member of the board of directors and for at least one year will serve as a consultant to the company - to promote a smooth succession.

In The Region Sinclair Broadcast earns $20 million vs. loss in 2Q last year Political advertising and new business initiatives lifted Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc.'s second-quarter net income to $20.2 million, compared with a loss of $1.9 million in the quarter last year. The Hunt Valley company said its net broadcast revenue was $179.9 million for the three months that ended June 30, an increase of 2.9 percent over the $174.9 million reported in the second quarter last year. Diluted income per share was 24 cents, compared with a loss of 2 cents per share a year earlier.

Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported yesterday a first-quarter loss that was much larger than expected, but attributed the additional red ink to investments in new products and a larger sales force. The Baltimore drugmaker reported a net loss of $18.1 million, or 53 cents a share, for the three months that ended March 31. Analysts had anticipated a net loss of 39 cents, according to a survey conducted by Zacks Investment Research. Guilford lost $11.2 million, or 37 cents per share, in the first quarter last year.

Shares of Human Genome Sciences Inc. jumped nearly 8 percent yesterday after the Rockville biotechnology company buttressed a better-than-expected financial report with upbeat insights into one of its more promising drug candidates. Human Genome shares jumped 99 cents, or 7.7 percent, to close at $13.85 yesterday on the Nasdaq stock market. Slightly more than 3 million shares traded, almost double the daily average for the past six months of just over 1.6 million shares. For its fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31, Human Genome reported a net loss of $48.9 million, or 38 cents per share, smaller than the net loss of $59.8 million, or 46 cents per share, during the comparable quarter in 2002, the company said.

Four Maryland biotechnology companies reported yesterday improved financial performances for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, although only one of them recorded a profit. Digene Corp. of Gaithersburg posted results for its fiscal first quarter, while third-quarter results were reported by United Therapeutics Corp. of Silver Spring, EntreMed Inc. of Rockville and Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Baltimore. Digene, the only company to report a profit, said its first-quarter revenue and net income were records.

CHICAGO - Even with a sizable cash handout from the government, United Airlines posted a second-quarter net loss yesterday that's larger than any other major U.S. carrier's. The airline, operating under bankruptcy protection since December 2002, said it lost $623 million, or $6.26 per share, in the quarter as revenue dropped 18 percent. Excluding the $300 million in government aid that United received under the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act and special items connected to its bankruptcy, the nation's second-largest airline posted a net loss of $476 million, or $4.79 a share.

Shares of Ciena Corp. fell nearly 8 percent yesterday after the company reported that its revenue decreased in the second quarter from a year ago and said that it could drop further this quarter. The Linthicum-based fiber-optic equipment maker reported a net loss of $75.5 million, or 17 cents per share, for the fiscal quarter that ended April 30. That compares with a net loss of $612.2 million, or $1.86 a share, in the corresponding quarter of last year. During that quarter, however, Ciena took more than $381 million in one-time charges.

NEW YORK - Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. had a second straight quarterly net loss and said it will be unprofitable again this period as a federal probe of alleged insider trading by its founder discourages advertisers. The company said yesterday that its first-quarter net loss widened to $4.51 million, or 9 cents a share, from $234,000, or break even, a year earlier. Sales fell 15 percent to $58 million from $68 million, the biggest decline since the company sold shares to the public in 1999.