Profit

First Mariner Bancorp reported Wednesday that it earned $7.9 million in the quarter ended in September, the third quarter in a row that the struggling parent of 1st Mariner Bank reported a profit. On a per-share basis, the Baltimore-based holding company earned 42 cents for the quarter. First Mariner experienced the opposite result for the corresponding quarter a year ago, when it lost $7.9 million, or 42 cents a share. For the first nine months of its fiscal year, the company earned $15.4 million, or 82 cents per share, compared with a loss of $26.7 million last year.

Baltimore money manager Legg Mason Inc. said Thursday that it posted a profit in its fiscal third quarter, but that clients continued to withdraw money from its stock and bond funds even as the rest of the industry saw increased investments. The company said net income was $44.9 million, or 28 cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31. That was compared to a loss of $1.49 million, or $10.59 per share, for the same period a year ago. Assets under management decreased 2 percent to $686.

Millennial Media Inc., a Baltimore-based mobile advertising company, reported Tuesday that it earned a $2.6 million profit, or 3 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31. A year earlier, the company lost $1.2 million, or 7 cents per share. Revenue in the quarter reached $58 million, up from $34.5 million the year before. For the year, Millennial lost $6.8 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with a $5.3 million loss, or 32 cents per share, for all of 2011. The company said it expects revenue for the first quarter of this year to range from $48 million to $50 million, and $270 million to $280 million for the full year.

T. Rowe Price Group saw its quarterly income fall for the first time in two years but the Baltimore money manager reported record revenue and profit for the year. The company said Friday that net income for the three months ending Dec. 31 was $188.4 million, or 73 cents per share, compared with $191.6 million, or 72 cents per share. Earnings were impacted by higher taxes and expenses in the recent fourth quarter, the company said. It was the first time Price reported a quarterly decline since the third quarter of 2009.

EA Engineering, Science and Technology Inc., a Baltimore-based consulting company, has reported an 85 percent drop in profit for its fourth quarter ending Aug. 31.EA earned $60,000, or 2 cents a share, on revenue of $11.2 million, compared with $416,000, or 17 cents a share, on revenue of $9.8 million.For the year, the profit was $609,000, or 25 cents a share, on revenue of $41 million compared with $1.2 million, or 47 cents a share, on revenue of $33.3 million in 1989.Chairman and president Loren D. Jensen blamed the drop on higher costs associated with additional hiring and project cost overruns.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. reported today a steep drop in profits and blamed it in part on equipment repairs at the Sparrows Point plant in Baltimore County.The Bethlehem, Pa.-based steelmaker posted a profit of $10 million, or 5 cents a share, in the third quarter, less than a quarter of the $47 million, or 53 cents a share, it earned during the same period last year. Sales of $1.2 billion were down nearly 5 percent from the year-ago figure.The company blamed the decline on a drop in sales and prices for steel and higher operating costs.

WASHINGTON -- Benefiting from a healthy rise in car and truck sales and its recent cost-cutting moves, General Motors Corp. yesterday reported stronger than expected first-quarter profits.GM posted a 66 percent jump in earnings for the January to March period, to $854 million, or 81 cents a share, compared with $513 million, or 42 cents a share, in the same period last year. The increase came despite a one-time charge of $758 million, equal to $1.05 a share, for a change in accounting for employee disability benefits.

Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s mill operations turned a profit for the first time in three years last year, but a huge restructuring charge in the fourth quarter for the company's Bethlehem, Pa., plant resulted in a $266.3 million annual loss.Among the company's profitable divisions was the Sparrows Point steel mill in Baltimore County, which was also in the black for the first year since 1989.The company reported a net loss of $242.6 million during the fourth quarter. Without the after-tax restructuring charge of $290 million, the company would have had a profit of $47 million in the fourth quarter and $24 million for the year.

In Tom Doyle's office, overlooking the marble ashtray, marble pen holder, marble bust and marble pedestal, is a portrait of Ludwig Hilgartner.A dour-looking, bearded German immigrant who has been dead nearly 90 years, Mr. Hilgartner was a stonecutter who did a booming business making marble headstones in Baltimore during the Civil War era. His gardens of stone laid the foundation for Hilgartner Natural Stone Co. Inc., a 128-year-old South Baltimore enterprise...

EDWARD T. NORRIS, former Maryland state police superintendent and former Baltimore City police commissioner, was convicted last year of stealing public funds and of filing false tax returns. He was sentenced to and has recently completed serving six months in a federal prison and has returned to Baltimore to begin a court-ordered 500 hours of community service. Mr. Norris' community service obligation is being made a mockery as he has been elevated to the status of a local "personality" by a Baltimore radio station, intent on capitalizing on his notoriety.