Profit

Profitability declined as sales increased 9 percent at Urban Outfitters Inc., during the three months ended April 30, the Philadelphia-based retailer reported in releasing quarterly earnings Monday. The company said it collected net profit of $34 million on $569 million in sales, a decline in margin from the same period a year earlier, when the specialty apparel retailer posted earnings of $39 million on $524 million in sales. Net earnings per share for both quarters remained at 23 cents.

Vishay Intertechnology Inc. of Malvern said yesterday that its second-quarter profit fell to $9.7 million, or 5 cents a share, from $41.1 million, or 22 cents a share, in the year-earlier period, because of lower sales and special expenses. Second-quarter sales dropped to $581.6 million from $646.7 million in the 2004 quarter. Gerald Paul, Vishay's president and chief executive officer, said in a conference call that the company expected third-quarter sales of $560 million to $580 million and profit to be flat or slightly lower than in the 2004 third quarter.

Trans World Airlines chairman Carl C. Icahn yesterday predicted that the carrier would post a third-quarter profit, its first in more than a year, because of increased overseas bookings and lower labor costs. He also told shareholders at their annual meeting that he plans to have $1 billion in cash by the end of the year and hopes to use it to acquire another carrier. "With our cost structure so low, we believe we'll be in a good position to consolidate," he said, although he declined to be more specific about when or with what airline such a merger might occur.

Strawbridge & Clothier, the Philadelphia department-store operator, yesterday said that despite lower sales, continued cost control allowed it to earn a profit in the second quarter. Last year, it reported a loss for the quarter. The company said sales were down slightly because of less advertising this year than in 1993. But the cost of sales dropped from 77.2 percent of sales to 76.1 percent this year because of lower occupancy and buying costs and fewer markdowns, the company said.

Executives of the local research and development company Biosonics told shareholders yesterday that the company is pinning its immediate hopes to the success of an electronic device that can help people who have bowel control problems. Food and Drug Administration approval of the Biosonics Anotron incontinence system paves the way for the company - which has spent more than $5 million developing new applications for electronics in medicine - to make the transition to manufacturing and marketing, according to chairman Jack Paller.

Westmoreland Coal Co. yesterday said it earned $5.8 million or 71 cents a share in the second quarter, in contrast with a $732,000 or 9-cent-per-share loss a year earlier. The turnaround for the Philadelphia-based company came as coal sales rose 5.9 percent, to $146.5 million compared with $138.4 million sold in the second quarter of 1985. Total revenue, which includes non-coal subsidiaries, was $157.8 million, compared with $150.2 million in 1985. The company also kept its costs down, according to chairman E.B. Leisenring Jr. Earnings for the first half of 1986 were $10.4 million or $1.28 per share, compared with a loss of $3.3 million or 40 cents per share in the first half of 1985, the company said.

Maybe the Phillies haven't come right out and said they have lost a lot of money in recent years, but they certainly have cultivated that impression. They talk about how unfavorable their lease is at Veterans Stadium. They talk about needing a new ballpark, partly funded by the state and city, to become competitive again. They talk about being unable to afford top free agents. Somehow, a figure wormed its way into the public consciousness. It became accepted that the Phillies lost around $10 million last season.

When The 1986 Miss Teen USA Pageant begins tonight on CBS (9 p.m., Channel 10), the screen will be filled with attractive scenery: 51 young women and the sands and surf of Florida's Daytona Beach. In business terms, the location is no less important than the competition. "Look at the sheer economics of it, at the simplest facts of what a pageant is," says George B. Honchar, president of Miss Universe Inc. "Nowadays, city governments are big business. . . . Everyone is very, very sensitive and alert to promotion.

Commerce Bancorp Inc. today reported a 47 percent drop in fourth quarter profits on higher loan losses, charges related to the sale of its insurance brokerage and losses on investments. The Cherry Hill bank, which has scheduled a shareholder vote Feb. 6 on its sale to Toronto-Dominion Bank, said its fourth quarter net income was $33.4 million, or 17 cents per share, compared with $62.8 million, or 32 cents per share, in the same period of 2006. Commerce shares were up 7 cents, to $37.23 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Profits at Charter Power Systems Inc. jumped 85 percent in the second quarter, the Plymouth Meeting maker of batteries said yesterday. "Although slow economic activity is affecting the industries we serve, technical manufacturing improvements, production and purchasing efficiencies, targeted marketing and sales successes and changes in late 1989 to a new debt structure . . . have helped produce the improved results for Charter Power," said Robert...

Profitability declined as sales increased 9 percent at Urban Outfitters Inc., during the three months ended April 30, the Philadelphia-based retailer reported in releasing quarterly earnings Monday. The company said it collected net profit of $34 million on $569 million in sales, a decline in margin from the same period a year earlier, when the specialty apparel retailer posted earnings of $39 million on $524 million in sales. Net earnings per share for both quarters remained at 23 cents.

Profitability at hospitals in Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs improved slightly last year, but the revenue growth rate continued sliding, according to an annual report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council to be released Thursday. The report, which is appearing as hospital interests are lobbying hard in Harrisburg to undo funding cuts proposed by Gov. Corbett in February, showed that the overall operating profit margin at 41 area for-profit and nonprofit hospitals edged up to 4.4 percent from 4.3 percent.

How hurtin' is Oprah Winfrey's network, OWN? Massively. Last week, an article in Bloomberg Businessweek guessed that the cable joint, born 2008, may have lost upward of $330 million. Not Oprah's money; she has no personal financial stake in the venture. Still, her name is on it, OWN has seen flagging viewership, and there have been a few high-profile duds (this means you, Rosie O'Donnell!). O's show, Oprah's Next Chapter, has been getting pretty good numbers, with savvily chosen guests, such as Whitney Houston's family.

Sunoco Inc., which announced plans this week to merge with Energy Transfer Partners L.P., reported first-quarter net income on Wednesday of $248 million, or $2.32 per share, compared to a net loss of $101million or 84 cents per share a year ago. When special items were excluded, the company lost $53 million for the quarter. Special items included gains on inventory and a $104 million gain related to the participation payment received in April in connection with the sale of its Toledo refinery in March 2011.

Helped by Super Bowl advertising and still-surging demand for Internet services, Comcast Corp.'s first-quarter profits boomed 30 percent to $1.2 billion and revenue rose 22 percent to almost $15 billion. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said in a conference call that he was "really pleased" and that "cable had another outstanding quarter with real momentum. " But analysts seemed jolted by Comcast's 37,000 TV-subscriber losses, seemingly believing that the company could reverse five years of TV subscriber losses.

Merck & Co. Inc. reported a 67 percent profit increase Friday for the first quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2011, but the number was helped by cost-cutting and absence of a big charge from a year ago. The global drugmaker, which is based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., and has big operations in the Philadelphia suburbs, got the profit increase in part by spending less. "We're trying to manage our cost structure going forward," Merck chief executive officer Ken Frazier said in a conference call with Wall Street analysts.

IN THE REGION Unisys shares jump 20% Shares of Unisys Corp. were among the biggest movers after the Blue Bell information technology company reported a rare quarterly revenue increase as well as higher profits. Unisys shares closed up 20 percent, or $3.30, to $19.70, making it the second-biggest gainer on the New York Stock Exchange. After stock market trading had ended Tuesday, the company announced first-quarter revenues of $928.4 million, up 2 percent from the same quarter in 2011.

US Airways, pursuing a possible merger with bankrupt American Airlines, is seeking to convince American's creditors that a combined company would be more profitable than a stand-alone American, US Airways chairman Doug Parker said Wednesday. "We are eager to demonstrate to the creditors of [American parent] AMR that our plan would result in higher returns than the AMR stand-alone strategy would," Parker said during an earnings conference call with industry analysts. Cost savings and additional revenue would produce $1.2 billion a year more for a merged company than for a go-it-alone American, he said.

Don't be misled by reports that inflation is tame. For small-business owners, it's a threat to profits and expansion plans. An 8 percent increase in the cost of eggs over the last year is eating away at restaurants and bakeries. Cotton's 14 percent increase is hurting clothing manufacturers and retailers. And any business that sends somebody on a sales trip is bearing the brunt of an 8 percent increase in jet fuel and 7 percent rise in gasoline. If this were a "normal" economy, companies could pass along the cost of doing business to customers.

It's a long and twisty trail that leads from Alexander the Great to Larry the Cable Guy, but the History Channel would gladly travel it again. The cable outlet launched on New Year's Day in 1995 with lofty aspirations befitting its name. It offered a library of documentaries about everything from the Precambrian Era to the Crusades to the Korean War. Ladies and gentlemen, we have discovered the cure for insomnia. The subject matter was too dry for TV's heightened narrative style.