Friday, October 16, 2009

Halliburton earnings down 61% in third quarter

Employee separation costs contributed to a 61 percent decline in third-quarter earnings at Halliburton Co., the company reported Friday.

The Houston-based oil services giant reported net income for the three months ended 30 Sept. 2009 of $262 million, or 29 cents a share. Excluding employee separation costs, net income was $281 million, or 31 cents a share.

In the same quarter last year, Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) reported net income of $672 million, or 74 cents a share.

Analysts polled by Thomson/First Call on average expected the company to have earnings per share of 26 cents.

Third quarter revenue was $3.6 billion, down from $4.8 billion in the same quarter last year, but up from $3.5 billion in the 2009 second quarter.

Third-quarter results also were negatively impacted by pricing pressures in North America, the company said.

“While I am pleased with our results, overall market dynamics remained difficult in North America in the third quarter,” Dave Lesar, Halliburton chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “However, Halliburton continued to benefit from its balanced global portfolio and broad offering of services. Total revenue increased 3 percent from the second quarter, representing our first sequential revenue increase since the fourth quarter of 2008.

“Given the current challenging environment, I believe we are in a strong position at this point,” he added.

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