Third Quarter

Avemco Corp., a Frederick-based aviation and marine insurance holding company, said yesterday that its third-quarter earnings plunged by 96.8 percent as the result of more claims in its growing aviation business, a few large claims and its reduced participation in short-term health programs.The company's third-quarter net income dropped to $74,000, or a penny a share, compared with $2.3 million, or 26 cents a share, for the same period a year ago. Revenues for the quarter grew by 6.3 percent, to $29.1 million from $27.4 million.

To many lacrosse observers, Towson is in the midst of a surprising revival, winning seven of 11 games and sitting in a tie with No. 11 Penn State for third place in the Colonial Athletic Association with identical 2-1 records. But one gnawing issue for the Tigers is a series of lackluster showing in third quarters. In seven contests thus far, the team has been outscored in the aforementioned periods, and four of those games have ended in losses, including Saturday's 14-3 thumping at the hands of No. 3 Massachusetts.

Bell Atlantic Corp. and AT&T Corp. painted sharply different financial pictures as they reported their third-quarter earnings yesterday, but investors in the two companies that are soon to square off as competitors in Maryland and elsewhere treated them about the same.Bell Atlantic, the traditional local phone service monopoly in Maryland and five other states, said its third-quarter profit rose 9 percent to $483.3 million, or $1.10 a share, as it continued to get a boost from its fast-growing cellular business and the number of customers adding second phone lines to serve their computer modems.

SECU, Maryland's largest state-chartered credit union, announced Tuesday that it will acquire Anne Arundel County Employees Federal Credit Union. The proposed merger — with SECU as the surviving entity — would expand banking services and access to AACE FCU, which has 14,000 members and $81 million in assets, the financial cooperatives said. The Anne Arundel County employees credit union joins the larger entity, which has over 225,000 members and $2.26 billion in assets.

HOUSTON -- The value of initial public stock offerings by non-financial companies dropped 58 percent, or more than $3.5 billion, in the third quarter to the lowest level since the first quarter of 1991, according to a survey released yesterday.Seventy-six non-financial IPOs raised $2.47 billion during the third quarter, down from $5.97 billion in the second quarter, according to the study by Sommers & Associates.Financial offerings more than doubled, to $5.77 billion, in the third quarter, from $2.33 billion in the second quarter, with more than 80 percent going into investment funds.

USF&G Corp., the Baltimore-based insurance company, lost $25 million in the third quarter, about two-thirds more than the 1990 third-quarter loss of $15 million.On a per share basis, the loss was double -- 44 cents compared to 22 cents.Revenues for the third quarter were $980 million, down 14 percent from revenues of $1.12 billion in the previous third quarter.The company said the third-quarter results were primarily due to a 15 per cent decline in premiums resulting from the company's pullout from states where it says its business is unprofitable.

Struggling with a worse-than-expected industrywide revenue slump, US Airways Group Inc. reported a $335 million third-quarter net loss yesterday and restated its need to cut costs deeper than once anticipated. The loss of $4.92 per share follows an Aug. 11 bankruptcy filing and months of restructuring that has resulted in thousands of layoffs and flight reductions. Sales in the quarter fell 12 percent to $1.75 billion. Though the loss was an improvement over last year's third-quarter deficit of $766 million, or $11.42 per share, the slow industry recovery prompted the Arlington, Va.-based airline to recently announce hundreds of additional layoffs.

Baltimore money manager Legg Mason reported Friday its net income for the fiscal third quarter fell 54 percent as the company saw assets under management fall. Net income for the three months ending Dec. 31 was $28.1 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with $61.6 million, or 41 cents per share. Assets under management declined 7 percent to $627 billion, from $671.8 billion a year ago. Revenues were $627 million in the fiscal third quarter, down from $721.9 million a year earlier.

Home remodeling spending continued to decline in the third quarter of this year, but Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies said that it's still too early to determine the impact of the events of Sept. 11 on the remodeling market. The Joint Center releases its Remodeling Activity Indicator each quarter, which tracks the pace of homeowner remodeling activity. In the third quarter, remodeling spending slipped 0.3 percent when compared with the third quarter last year, to $103.

Hechinger Corp., the Landover-based home improvement chain, overcame a third quarter that was difficult for most retailers and posted a 33 percent earnings gain, the company said yesterday. Net earnings were $6.5 million, compared with $4.9 million in 1990's third quarter.Despite that earnings surge, and an increase in quarterly revenues to $400.6 million, two retail analysts said that they were cutting their projections of Hechinger's fourth-quarter profits."In a pretty punk economy, they posted some pretty good results," said Budd Bugatch, research director at Ferris Baker Watts in Baltimore.

In a young season littered with upsets, the Johns Hopkins men's lacrosse team ensured that its name wasn't added to the list of the fallen. Junior attackman Zach Palmer had a career-best eight points, and the No. 2 Blue Jays overpowered UMBC, 12-5, at the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday. The daylong event drew an announced 17,138 fans. Johns Hopkins improved to 6-0 for the ninth time since 1971 but only the second time under coach Dave Pietramala (the other was in 2005)

The South Carroll boys' basketball team had been to the Comcast Center before. But they had never been part of such an unusual strategy. On Friday night, the Cavaliers' third state semifinal appearance in four years ended with a 46-34 loss to Baltimore City power Lake Clifton. Coach Doug Goff's squad came out ready to run against the Lakers, but that wasn't Lake Clifton's idea. After taking a 14-11 lead into the second quarter, the Lakers held the ball for nearly an entire quarter, content to wait until the Cavaliers pulled out of its 2-3 zone defense.

Washington's 13-5 victory over Elizabethtown Tuesday was notable because the Shoremen put on an offensive display that even coach Jeff Shirk couldn't recall having seen. The team scored 10 goals on 18 shots in the third quarter. To put this in perspective, the output matched the total number of goals Washington had scored in four quarters in a loss to Washington & Lee last Saturday. “Elizabethtown's goalie played well in the first half. We hit him a lot,” Shirk said Thursday afternoon.

COLLEGE PARK - No. 14 Centennial's season came to an end Thursday afternoon at the Comcast Center with a 69-61 loss to Thomas Stone in the Class 3A state semifinals. Thomas Stone took a 23-22 lead at the halftime buzzer on a 3-pointer by junior guard Michael Briscoe (21 points, five assists), and pulled away for good in the third quarter. "Going into the locker room that was a lot of excitement, knowing we can get above this team," said Thomas Stone senior center Brelin Elliott, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

For 29 of the 32 minutes in their Class 3A East Region semifinal Thursday night, Atholton and Centennial were practically mirror images of one another - scrappy on defense, methodical on offense and relatively even on the scoreboard. It's what transpired in those other three minutes, though, that has No. 15 and top-seeded Centennial moving on into a regional final matchup with Annapolis. A 13-0 Eagles run early in the third quarter broke open what was a tie game and gave them all the cushion they would need to hold on for a 63-51 victory in front of a near sell out. Athlolton, which was led by Gavin Stephenson's game-high 27 points, never got closer than eight points over the final 13 minutes.

Hartford achieved a pair of firsts last season, capturing the school's first America East Tournament crown and qualifying for its first NCAA Tournament. The No. 19 Hawks appeared to take another step in that direction when they took a 5-4 lead on Maryland in the third quarter Saturday. But the No. 10 Terps responded with a four-goal run and ended the contest with another four-goal spurt. Hartford coach Peter Lawrence said the players proved that they can compete with top-10 opponents.

Two of the Baltimore-Washington area's biggest homebuilders said that they made a profit in the third quarter as demand for their new homes increased.NVR L.P. of McLean, Va., the parent of NVHomes and Ryan Homes, said that it made $2.2 million, or 5 cents a partnership unit. It was the first time NVR has made money since it earned a penny a unit in the first three months of last year.In between, it lost $260.5 million for all of 1990, including $172.3 million in the third quarter, and kept losing money this year.

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average as its inspiration, the investment firm Legg Mason Inc. reached record heights in its third quarter, with profits more than doubling over the same period in 1990.The Baltimore-based regional brokerage reported profits of $5.8 million, or 58 cents a share fully diluted, for the third fiscal quarter ending Dec. 31. That compares with profits of $2.6 million, or 29 cents a share fully diluted, in the third quarter of 1990. Third-quarter revenues rose 30 percent, to $76.0 million from $58.4 million a year earlier.

Baltimore money manager Legg Mason reported Friday its net income for the fiscal third quarter fell 54 percent as the company saw assets under management fall. Net income for the three months ending Dec. 31 was $28.1 million, or 20 cents per share, compared with $61.6 million, or 41 cents per share. Assets under management declined 7 percent to $627 billion, from $671.8 billion a year ago. Revenues were $627 million in the fiscal third quarter, down from $721.9 million a year earlier.

After taking a 17-16 lead late in the third quarter, the Ravens appeared primed to stretch that advantage to eight points after LaQuan Williams stripped the New England Patriots' Danny Woodhead of the football on a kick return and Emanuel Cook recovered the loose ball at New England's 28-yard line. But the offense failed to get into the end zone as safety James Ihedigbo sacked quarterback Joe Flacco on third down-and-8 from the Patriots' 9. Flacco also appeared to miss a wide-open Vonta Leach two plays earlier, opting instead to aim for tight end Kris Wilson, who was well-covered in the end zone.