Business in brief

| The New Mexican

5/6/2008 - 5/7/08

Disney net profits grow 22 percent

LOS ANGELES — Strong growth in its media networks, film studios and theme parks lifted The Walt Disney Co.'s second-quarter net profit 22 percent from a year ago, the company said Tuesday.

Disney said it earned $1.13 billion, or 58 cents per share, in the quarter ended March 29, compared with $931 million, or 44 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue for the period grew 10 percent to $8.71 billion.

The results beat Wall Street estimates.

UBS to slash work force 7 percent

ZURICH, Switzerland — Swiss bank UBS, hard hit by the U.S. subprime crisis, reported a first-quarter loss of $10.97 billion and said Tuesday that it will slash almost 7 percent of its work force.

The 11.5 billion Swiss franc loss compares with a net profit of 3 billion francs in the same period last year. The company also said it would unload $15 billion in subprime and other mortgage-based securities from its portfolio.

UBS AG shares tumbled 4.5 percent to close at 35.22 francs or $33.41.

The bank warned investors last month to expect net losses of $11.42 billion from the first three months of the year after writing down about $19 billion on U.S. real estate and related credit positions.

Fed auctions $75 billion to banks

WASHINGTON — Battling to relieve stressed credit markets, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it has provided a total of $435 billion in short-term loans to squeezed banks since December to help them overcome credit problems.

The central bank announced the results of its most recent auction — $75 billion in short-term loans — the 11th such auction since the program started in December.

It's part of an ongoing effort by the Fed to help ease the credit crunch, which erupted last August, intensified in December and January and took another turn for the worst in March.

Wachovia loss reported at $708 million

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Wachovia Corp. said Tuesday that it is nearly doubling previously reported losses for the first quarter after reviewing its portfolio of bank-owned life insurance.

The Charlotte-based bank said it lost $708 million, or 36 cents per share, during the January-March period, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It previously said losses totaled $393 million, or 20 cents per share, during the quarter.

Shares of Wachovia rose 30 cents to $30.08 Tuesday.

Playboy revenue skids into the red

CHICAGO — Virtually across-the-board revenue declines at all of its divisions dragged Playboy Enterprises Inc. into the red in its first quarter, the adult entertainment company said Tuesday — and its shares quickly followed suit by posting a double-digit percentage decline.

Before the start of trading, Playboy reported a first-quarter loss of $3.1 million, or 9 cents a share — a turn from the $1.5 million, or 4 cents a share, it earned in the same period a year ago.

Revenue fell to $78.5 million from $85.4 million on what it called "continued structural and economic pressures on the company's domestic media businesses."

There was plenty of pressure on the stock, too: Shares dropped more than 9 percent to close at $7.49.

Although there was some modest growth overseas, every one of its units suffered sales declines.

Playboy's domestic TV revenue was down 16 percent to $16.5 million. While monthly subscription revenue edged higher, that was more than offset by lower demand for pay-per-view products, the company said. Online revenue was down 3 percent in the quarter with gains in e-commerce and advertising more than overcome by lower pay-site revenue.

The company's publishing group, which includes its eponymous flagship magazine, was hit by a 14 percent revenue decline on the back of drops in both circulation and advertising sales.

And things aren't looking up anytime soon: Playboy said it expects second-quarter advertising pages to be down 5 percent.