Dr Pepper Snapple

Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. said Thursday that it lost $621 million in the fourth quarter as it wrote down assets and spent heavily on restructuring and severance, but its adjusted profit was better than Wall Street expected.

The seller of drinks such as A&W, Squirt and Hawaiian Punch lost $2.44 per share in the quarter that ended Dec. 31, compared to a profit of $138 million, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue fell to $1.38 billion from $1.39 billion.

The Plano, Texas-based company was spun-off from Cadbury Schweppes PLC in May 2008.

Without the one-time costs, the company earned 39 cents per share, beating a consensus profit estimate of 37 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters typically exclude one-time items.

The company said it expects 2009 profit of $1.59 to $1.67 per share, excluding a 12-cent per share gain related to the termination of a contract with Hansen Natural Corp. It expects full-year revenue to decline by 2 percent to 4 percent.

In 2008, Dr Pepper Snapple lost $312 million, or $1.23 per share. That compares to a profit of $497 million, or $1.96 per share, in 2007. Revenue rose slightly to $5.71 billion from $5.7 billion.

Excluding one-time charges, the company earned $1.85 per share in 2008. Analysts had expected $1.82 per share.

Financial Regulation

The Obama administration is preparing an overhaul of U.S. banking rules that would force financial companies to keep more cash on hand in case their trading bets go wrong.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told lawmakers yesterday that changes will include “strong oversight, including appropriate constraints on risk-taking.” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the case of American International Group Inc. showed the “intense problem” of trading with insufficient capital to guard against losses.

Former 1970s radical returns to her Minnesota home

Former 1970s radical Sara Jane Olson is expected to check in with her probation agent on her first full day back in Minnesota.

The 62-year-old Olson arrived in Minnesota on Wednesday evening after serving seven years in a California prison for crimes committed with the Symbionese Liberation Army.

Ramsey County Community Corrections spokesman Chris Crutchfield says he expects Olson to check in with her agent in person at a community corrections office by the end of the business day Thursday.

Olson spent more than 20 years in hiding in St. Paul. While she was a fugitive, she discarded her birth name of Kathleen Soliah and assumed a new persona as a housewife, mother, community volunteer and actress.

United Technologies to cut 11,600 jobs worldwide

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United Technologies Corp., the world’s largest maker of elevators and air conditioners, said it will cut 11,600 jobs worldwide to cope with the global economic slowdown.

The Hartford, Connecticut-based conglomerate (UTX) is also lowering its 2009 profit forecast. The cuts are part of an expanded $750 million restructuring program.

The company, which owns Pratt & Whitney jet engines and Sikorsky helicopters, cut its 2009 earnings per share forecast to between $4 per share and $4.50 per share, down from its December outlook of $4.65 to $5.15. Analysts, on average, had expected $4.60.

United Technologies also reduced the amount it would spend on share repurchases by half this year to $1 billion. Last month, Pratt & Whitney Canada announced plans to lay off up to 1,000 employees because of falling business jet orders.

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