Operating Profits

Webster Clothes Inc.This Rosedale-based men's clothing chain announced flat sales and increased operating losses for the second quarter, which ended Aug. 4.During the third quarter, Webster, which specializes in upscalclothing, entered into an agreement to be acquired by a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Edison Brothers Stores Inc. for $6 a share. The deal is expected to close in early October.Edison reported strong growth in its second-quarter earnings announcement last week.For the latest quarter, total sales increased to $16 million Comparable store sales increased 1.9 percent during the second quarter this year as compared to the same quarter last year.

Lower revenues in book and magazine publishing caused Times Mirror Co.'s revenues to drop 1.4 percent and profits to fall 23.7 percent during the first three months of the year, the company reported yesterday.The Los Angeles-based media company, which publishes The Sun and The Evening Sun, reported first-quarter net income of $22.7 million, or 18 cents a share, on revenue of $856.7 million. During the same period last year, Times Mirror made $29.8 million, or 23 cents a share, on revenue of $868.

Westinghouse Electric Corp. reported yesterday that it had a decline of more than 50 percent in earnings in the first quarter.The Pittsburgh-based company said the drop was due primarily to a sharp fall in the operating profits of its broadcasting business, where advertising revenues were hurt by the recession and the Persian Gulf war.Westinghouse reported that revenues of its Electronic Systems Group, the bulk of which is based in Maryland, were about even...

Hurt by declines in its electronic systems and power generation divisions, Westinghouse Electric Corp. said yesterday that its net income dropped by 10.7 percent during the second quarter.The company, which is the largest Maryland industrial employer, said second-quarter earnings dropped to $75 million, or 16 cents a share, from $84 million, or 20 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. Sales for the period declined 2.1 percent to $2.11 billion from $2.15 billion a year ago."Results for the quarter came in slightly above expectations," said Mike Jordan, chairman and chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh-based conglomerate.

Consumers may forgo buying houses, cars, clothes and luxuries, but one thing is certain as the nation slips into recession and war threatens, they still have to eat.And that is the main reason why business at McCormick & Co. Inc. is better than ever, according to James J. Harrison Jr., chief financial officer of the Hunt Valley spice and seasonings maker."

The state's largest health insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Maryland, reported yesterday that overall earnings rose 8 percent last year to $79.8 million, thanks partly to the sale of a portion of its business.Last year's results came during a difficult year, which brought a change in leadership and a restructuring of business operations in the wake of a U.S. Senate probe that concluded the company was grossly mismanaged.Blue Cross' financial results indicate it has shaved expenses and increased return on revenues.

RTC unveils plan for investorsFederal thrift regulators unveiled a program yesterday to give small investors a better crack at buying properties and other assets seized from bankrupt savings and loans.The Resolution Trust Corp. said the plan will minimize the taxpayer cost of the S&L cleanup by attracting more competitive bidding for $100 billion in real estate, loans, securities and other assets being sold by the agency.Under the plan, individual investors will be able to buy a foreclosed residential property from a government-seized thrift, rather than the thrift's entire portfolio of assets.

Five Maryland hospitals, including four in the Baltimore area, earned more than $4 million in profits last year, while two hospitals, including Homewood Medical Center in Baltimore, ended up with more than $3 million in losses.The most financially healthy hospital in the state was Sacred Heart of Cumberland, which showed a $7 million profit, beating St. Agnes Hospital, Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital and St. Joseph Hospital -- all posting profits of slightly more than $4 million.

MCI Communications Corp. said yesterday its third-quarter profits rose 10 percent, after factoring out a one-time charge last year, in a performance that matched analysts' expectations and in some ways outperformed rivals AT&T Corp. and Sprint Corp.MCI said it earned $304 million, or 44 cents a share, during the three months that ended in September, bringing 1996's nine-month total to $899 million, or $1.29 a share. Last year, the Washington-based long-distance carrier, a major employer in Maryland, posted a loss during the third quarter because of a one-time $520 million charge.

MNC Financial Inc. said yesterday that it lost $82.3 million during the second quarter, a performance bank analysts said was fairly decent despite the negative bottom line."