By: (AP) Lower pulp prices and costs associated with moving some production to a South Carolina mill left Bowater Inc. with a wider loss of $56.7 million in the third-quarter.
The newsprint and pulp products maker said Thursday the loss of $1 a share for the July-September period came despite increased prices for newsprint. It lost $32.3 million, or 57 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago.
Earlier this month, Bowater had estimated its third-quarter loss between 80 and 90 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call expected a loss of 88 cents a share for the quarter.
Sales for the quarter were $691 million, up from $644 million in the same period a year earlier.
"Improvements in newsprint, coated paper and lumber prices were offset by lower market pulp pricing and the one-time impact of shutting high-cost machines and starting up new production facilities at the Catawba, South Carolina mill," said Arnold M. Nemirow, chairman, president and chief executive. "These costs have abated and we expect pricing improvements to continue in our major product lines."
The company said newsprint prices were up $7 per metric ton from the second quarter of 2003, but shipments were down 3%.
For the first nine months of the year, Bowater lost $154.1 million, or $2.71 a share, compared with a loss of $75.8 million, or $1.33 a share, for the same period in 2002. Sales were $1.99 billion, up from $1.91 billion for the same period last year.
Bowater shares closed at $41.02, up $1.76, or 4.5% on the New York Stock Exchange.
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