Net Sales

Cost-savings initiatives and a focus on selling higher-margin products drove McCormick & Co. Inc.'s profit up nearly 10 percent in the third quarter, the spice maker said yesterday. Net income was $34.3 million, up from $31.3 million in the year-ago period. Net sales were $570.7 million, a gain of 15 percent, from $495.9 million. Earnings per share were in line with analysts' expectations at 49 cents versus 45 cents in the year-ago period. "I think McCormick is just firing on all engines from a sales, profit improvement and growth standpoint," said Francis A. Contino, executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. said Wednesday that third-quarter profit increased 26 percent as the company continued to use deep discounts to lure buyers despite the bad economy. But at least one analyst said the heavy promotions are beginning to hurt profitability. The Hampstead men's retailer said earnings were $11.7 million, or 63 cents per share for the quarter that ended Oct. 31, compared with $9.3 million, or 50 cents per share, for the same period a year ago. Comparable store sales rose 3.3 percent, while direct marketing sales, which include Internet and catalog sales, increased by 21.2 percent.

In an article appearing in the June 12 Business section about Maryland companies named to the "Biotech 50" list, the 1995 net sales figure for Life Technologies of Rockville was incorrectly reported. The company posted $272.3 million in net sales.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 6/28/96

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. said Wednesday that third-quarter profit increased 26 percent as the company continued to use deep discounts to lure buyers despite the bad economy. But at least one analyst said the heavy promotions are beginning to hurt profitability. The Hampstead men's retailer said earnings were $11.7 million, or 63 cents per share for the quarter that ended Oct. 31, compared with $9.3 million, or 50 cents per share, for the same period a year ago. Comparable store sales rose 3.3 percent, while direct marketing sales, which include Internet and catalog sales, increased by 21.2 percent.

Hunt Valley-based United Industrial Corp.'s bread and butter is in unmanned aerial vehicles that patrol the skies over Iraq for the U.S. Army. But it was the company's struggling energy unit - a business it's been trying to sell for years - that delivered a big gain in the second quarter, renewing hopes that it might finally find a buyer. Thanks to spiking energy prices, second-quarter net sales at Detroit Stoker Co., which makes alternative fuel products such as coal and wood-burning stokers, jumped 42.1 percent to $11.8 million.

Silver Diner Inc. reported a fourth-quarter net loss yesterday of $743,586, or 6 cents per share, along with an upswing in sales.Both marked an improvement over past quarters, one analyst said.The Rockville-based company, which operates 11 Silver Diner restaurants in the Baltimore, Washington and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, said the fourth-quarter loss, which exceeded the same quarter's loss a year earlier, was due to $635,000 in nonrecurring charges, both administrative expenses and depreciation.

Millennium Chemicals Inc., whose largest division is based in Hunt Valley, reported earnings yesterday that beat analysts' estimates by 11 cents a share. Net income for the three months that ended Sept. 30 was $35 million, or 55 cents a diluted share, with an average of 63.9 million shares outstanding. Analysts had been expecting earnings of about 44 cents a share for the Red Bank, N.J., company. In the comparable period last year, net income was $45 million, but that included litigation settlements and tax adjustments; without the unusual gains, net income for last year's third quarter would have been $15 million, or 23 cents a share, with 67 million shares outstanding.

Martin Marietta Corp. in Bethesda has reported a slight dip in first-quarter sales but a 9 percent gain in earnings.Net earnings were $71.1 million, or $1.44 per share, compared with $67.1 million, or $1.32 per share, for the same period last year. Net sales were $1.4 billion, down 1.3 percent from $1.42 billion.The slight sales decrease reflected the absence of $115 million of non-recurring revenue from a commercial Titan missile launch in the first quarter of 1990.Norman R. Augustine, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "first-quarter results are an excellent beginning to the year, and we believe, a positive indicator for the year and the future."

Polk Audio Inc., a Baltimore-based loudspeaker maker that has transferred many of its jobs out of state, yesterday reported a 58 percent drop in net earnings for the fourth quarter.The company said in March that it expected at least a 40 percent drop in earnings for the quarter, which ended March 28.Earnings fell to $560,000, or 30 cents a share, compared with $1.3 million, or 71 cents a share, for the corresponding period a year ago. Net sales for the quarter were down 19 percent to $17.1 million.

JP Foodservice Inc.'s net income more than tripled to $6.9 million in its first fiscal quarter on record sales and operating earnings, the company said yesterday.The Columbia-based food distributor said net income jumped 19 percent to 31 cents per share before nonrecurring charges in the quarter ended Sept. 27, compared with 26 cents for the same period a year earlier.Income from operations rose nearly 28 percent to $16 million, up from $12.5 million. And net sales rose 13 percent to $468 million in the quarter, compared with $414.

Hunt Valley-based United Industrial Corp.'s bread and butter is in unmanned aerial vehicles that patrol the skies over Iraq for the U.S. Army. But it was the company's struggling energy unit - a business it's been trying to sell for years - that delivered a big gain in the second quarter, renewing hopes that it might finally find a buyer. Thanks to spiking energy prices, second-quarter net sales at Detroit Stoker Co., which makes alternative fuel products such as coal and wood-burning stokers, jumped 42.1 percent to $11.8 million.

Manugistics Group Inc., once a technology high-flier that saw its fortunes fall after the dot-com bust, announced yesterday that it fired its president a month after bringing in a turnaround specialist to reorient the Rockville company. The firing of Jeremy P. Coote, president of the company, which develops supply-chain software, takes effect today, the company reported in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Joe Cowan, a veteran supply-chain executive brought in as chief executive July 21, made the decision after assessing the company's needs, a spokeswoman said yesterday.

Cost-savings initiatives and a focus on selling higher-margin products drove McCormick & Co. Inc.'s profit up nearly 10 percent in the third quarter, the spice maker said yesterday. Net income was $34.3 million, up from $31.3 million in the year-ago period. Net sales were $570.7 million, a gain of 15 percent, from $495.9 million. Earnings per share were in line with analysts' expectations at 49 cents versus 45 cents in the year-ago period. "I think McCormick is just firing on all engines from a sales, profit improvement and growth standpoint," said Francis A. Contino, executive vice president and chief financial officer.

I.C. Isaacs & Co., a Baltimore-and New York-based sportswear maker, reported yesterday that cost-cutting narrowed its loss in the second quarter and said it expects a profit in this quarter. I.C. Isaacs posted a loss of $2.3 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with a $2.8 million loss, or 37 cents per share, for the comparable period in 2000. Net sales dropped 22 percent to $18.5 million for the second quarter, which ended June 30. For the corresponding period last year, I.C. Isaacs had sales of $23.6 million.

Although bad weather, a weak economy and rising energy costs depressed sales, Sweetheart Cup Inc. said yesterday that its third-quarter profit rose. The Owings Mills-based company is one of the country's biggest makers of disposable paper and plastic cups, plates and cutlery, and food packaging products. It employs 1,550 people in Maryland. Sweetheart had net sales of $263.8 million in the 13 weeks that ended June 24, down 0.3 percent from $264.6 million for the comparable period last year.

Owings Mills-based Sweetheart Cup Co. Inc. said yesterday that it lost $584,000 in the second quarter, compared with net income of $991,000 in the year-ago period. The privately held company, which has public bonds and files financial reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, had net sales of $219.6 million in the 13 weeks that ended March 25, up 1 percent from $217.4 million in the comparable period last year. The loss resulted primarily from increased rents and higher energy and freight charges, said Hans H. Heinsen, Sweetheart's chief financial officer.

Although bad weather, a weak economy and rising energy costs depressed sales, Sweetheart Cup Inc. said yesterday that its third-quarter profit rose. The Owings Mills-based company is one of the country's biggest makers of disposable paper and plastic cups, plates and cutlery, and food packaging products. It employs 1,550 people in Maryland. Sweetheart had net sales of $263.8 million in the 13 weeks that ended June 24, down 0.3 percent from $264.6 million for the comparable period last year.

Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc. said Wednesday that third-quarter profit increased 26 percent as the company continued to use deep discounts to lure buyers despite the bad economy. But at least one analyst said the heavy promotions are beginning to hurt profitability. The Hampstead men's retailer said earnings were $11.7 million, or 63 cents per share for the quarter that ended Oct. 31, compared with $9.3 million, or 50 cents per share, for the same period a year ago. Comparable store sales rose 3.3 percent, while direct marketing sales, which include Internet and catalog sales, increased by 21.2 percent.

Millennium Chemicals Inc., whose largest division is based in Hunt Valley, reported earnings yesterday that beat analysts' estimates by 11 cents a share. Net income for the three months that ended Sept. 30 was $35 million, or 55 cents a diluted share, with an average of 63.9 million shares outstanding. Analysts had been expecting earnings of about 44 cents a share for the Red Bank, N.J., company. In the comparable period last year, net income was $45 million, but that included litigation settlements and tax adjustments; without the unusual gains, net income for last year's third quarter would have been $15 million, or 23 cents a share, with 67 million shares outstanding.

IF YOU HAVE NOT put money into sector funds this year, chances are one of your neighbors has. Through June, according to Boston-based Financial Research Corp., roughly one-third of net sales in the fund business in 2000 has flowed into sector funds. One dollar out of every four in net sales has gone into technology funds. Those numbers are astonishing - 17 percent of net sales went to sector funds in 1999, and just 3.5 percent in 1998 - but hardly surprising. Dozens of sector funds, almost all of them technology driven, had triple-digit returns in 1999.