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Gold/Mining/Energy : Pride Petroleum Services (PDE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Raye Derickson who wrote (384)	2/28/1999 7:43:00 PM
From: DEER HUNTER	Respond to of 454

Sunday February 28, 4:08 pm Eastern Time Pride Q4 profit falls 44 pct, sees job cuts charge NEW YORK, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Leading oil and gas drilling company Pride International Inc. (NYSE:PDE - news) reported a 44 percent decline in fourth quarter profits and said it would take charges of up to $25 million as it continues to cut jobs in the face of the worst oil industry conditions in a decade. Houston-based Pride posted fourth quarter net earnings of $10.8 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, including a $0.06 per share or $3.8 million charge for job cuts. This compared with earnings of $19.4 million or $0.37 per diluted share during the year-earlier period. Analysts expected Pride to post fourth quarter earnings of $0.30 per share, according to brokerages surveyed by research firm First Call. The company posted $194.3 million in fourth quarter revenues, down around 8 percent from the $211 million Pride reported a year earlier. In a statement late Friday, Pride said it would continue to cut costs in 1999 through regional base consolidations, downsizing of administrative staffs and other reductions in personnel throughout the company. Prolonged weakness in crude prices are expected to force oil companies - Pride's customers - to slash 1999 spending by up to 25 percent, double the rate previously predicted, investment firm Salomon Smith Barney said in mid January. With additional restructuring, Pride expects to post non-recurring charges in the range of $20 million to $25 million during the first quarter, which will result in a similar amount of annual cost savings. For the 1998 year, Pride posted net earnings of $77.52 million or $1.39 per diluted share, on revenues of $837.17 million, including charges totalling $0.06 per share. This compared with earnings of $104 million or $2.16 per share, on revenues of $699.8 million the year earlier, after a gain and charges. Shares of Pride closed at 5 on Friday, down 1/16 and down from a year high of 27-8/16 on the New York exchange.