Business Briefs
Heavy equipment operators graduate
The Center for Employment Education will present its Spring 2000 class of heavy equipment operator training graduates at 1 p.m. Friday at the Kenai Economic Development District Center.
Refreshments will be served, and there will be a slide presentation. For more information, call Cheri Howland at 227-6104.
Spenard Builders donates to Habitat house
Spenard Builders Supply and its parent company, Lanoga Corp., have donated $5,000 in materials to Central Peninsula Habitat for Humanity for a house Habitat is building in Kenai. This is the seventh year that Spenard Builders and Lanoga have supported Habitat for Humanity.
Spring cleanup wraps up
Peninsula Sanitation will pick up trash bags today along main roads in the greater Kenai area and Saturday along the Sterling Highway from Sterling to Kasilof. Those are the last scheduled pick-up days for the annual spring cleanup sponsored by the Kenai and Soldotna chambers of commerce, the Kenai Peninsula Borough and Peninsula Sanitation.
Trash bags are available from both chambers, at the Peninsula Center Mall and at Mom & Dad's Grocery in Sterling.
Soldotna chamber announces luncheon speakers
May luncheon speakers at the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce are Becky Brock, concessions specialist for the National Park Service on May 9; former Gov. Bill Sheffield of the Alaska Railroad on May 16; Mark Lloyd of the Alaska SeaLife Center on May 23; and Kathy Lopeman of the American Cancer Society on May 30.
Chamber luncheons are Tuesdays at noon at Riverside House in Soldotna.
Mall hosts art festival
The Peninsula Center Mall hosts a Spring Art Festival this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The show features fine arts and crafts made in Alaska by Alaskans. There will be live entertainment.
Tesoro earnings rise
Tesoro Petroleum Corp. reported 1999 earnings from continuing operations of $32.2 million, or 62 cents per basic and diluted share. That's up from $7.6 million, or 5 cents per basic and diluted share in 1998, and from $2.4 million, or 9 cents per basic and diluted share in 1997.
Tesoro attributes the 1999 improvement mainly to higher operating profits in its refining and marketing segment. Refining and marketing gains arose from:
Gains in refinery efficiency;
Increased production and sales resulting from Tesoro's 1998 purchases of refineries in Hawaii and Washington;
Profits from buying and reselling products made by others.
In December 1999, Tesoro sold its U.S. and overseas exploration and production operations, generating more than $300 million in cash. It used much of the money to repay debts.
Tesoro's total 1999 net earnings were $75 million, or $1.94 per basic share and $1.92 per diluted share. Those included a $39.1 million gain from sales of discontinued operations.
The 1999 numbers are up from a net loss in 1998 of $19.4 million, or 86 cents per basic and diluted share. The 1998 loss included a $22 million loss from discontinued operations, a $4.4 million loss for debt extinguishment and a $12 million charge for special incentive compensation.
Tesoro holds its annual shareholder meeting May 25 in San Antonio, Texas.
Cross Timbers reports record earnings
Fort Worth, Texas-based Cross Timbers Oil Co. reported record first quarter earnings of $33.3 million, up from a first quarter loss of $2.1 million last year.
Total revenues for the 2000 quarter were $113.3 million, up 63 percent from first-quarter 1999 revenues. Operating income was $40.7 million, up 232 percent from the first quarter of 1999.
Natural gas prices were up 24 percent from the first quarter last year, natural gas liquids prices were up 175 percent, and oil prices were up 123 percent.
The company's first quarter 2000 earnings included a $12.5 million after-tax gain on the sale of properties, an $8.7 million after-tax gain on the sale of equity securities and a $2 million after-tax loss in the fair value of certain derivatives related to hedging activities. Excluding those gains and losses, first-quarter earnings were still $14.1 million.