Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.ibd From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Companies In The News Date: Tue, 17 Nov 92 12:53:40 EST Message-ID: <1.1992Nov17.125340@AmeriCast.com> 11/17/92 TITLE Companies In The News #m#gm#m##m#No Photo#m#Wheelabrator's Profits Rise As New Waste Plants Start Up John A. Jones Wheelabrator Technologies Inc. is showing higher profits since two new waste-to-energy plants came on line in the past year, and the company has made several acquisitions. Some parts of Wheelabrator may be split off into a new company speci- alizing in environmental cleanup and public works projects, how- ever, according to a plan announced last week.#m#cq#m# Investor's Business Daily, Energy - Alternate Sources ranks 31st, based on six-month stock-price performance with added weight given to recent months. In this series, leading companies within the group are reviewed. Wheelabrator, based in Oak Brook, Ill., is the nation's leading developer and operator of plants that convert trash into electrical energy and steam heat. The company also provides environmental engineering services, air pollution control, water and waste treatment systems. Waste Management Owns 55% In March 1990, Waste Management Inc. increased its ownership of Wheelebrator from 22% to 55%. Phillip B. Rooney, president of Waste Management since 1984, became chairman and chief executive of Wheelabrator in November 1990. Last Friday#m#cq#m#, Waste Management said it plans to create a new subsidiary for the in- frastructure and waste cleanup market, by combining some of its subsidiaries with Wheelabrator's. Wheelabrator would contribute its Rust International industrial design, engineering, construc- tion and project management firm based in Birmingham, Ala., its SEC Donohue environmental engineering and consulting firm in Greenville, S.C., and Wheelabrator's international engineering unit based in London. The deal would have to be approved by the directors of the companies involved, including Wheelabrator. Wheelabrator's third-quarter earnings rose 25% to 36 cents a share from 29 cents a year earlier, before a gain of five cents a share in 1991 from the sale of a foreign manufacturing operation. Income from operations was up 32% to $33 million from $25 mil- lion. Revenue rose 29% to $394.3 million from $305.6 million. Nine-Month Earnings Up 22% Earnings for the nine months to Sept. 30 rose 22% to 99 cents a share from 81 cents a year earlier. Income was up 35% to $92 mil- lion from $68 million, excluding one-time charges of $42 million after tax in 1992 for accounting changes. Those results also ex- cluded one-time gains of $47 million from the initial public offering of Waste Management International PLC in 1992, and a $47 million pretax gain on the sale of Wheelabrator's interests in foreign manufacturing operations in 1991. Nine-month revenue rose 27% to $1.15 billion from $923 million. Michael Hutchison of Barrington Research Associates in Barrington, Ill., said the $96 million gain in third-quarter revenue included $70 million from acquisitions, $20 million from new waste-to-energy plants and $12 million from other operations. Those gains were partly offset by a $6 million decline in sales from the Rust Interna- tional Corp. construction subsidiary. Hutchison said governments have been less willing to buy waste processing plants since their funds got squeezed by weak business conditions, and this slowed Wheelabrator's sales growth last year when Rust's sales declined. But he said the company's profit margins benefited from an in- creasing contribution from two new, higher-margin waste-to-energy plants in Florida and Washington state. Acquired Four Businesses Wheelabrator recently bought four environmental businesses, in- cluding two air pollution control operations and two sludge- pelletizing projects, from JWP Inc. for $69 million cash. Hutchison said these operations will partly make up for the ab- sence of new waste-to-energy capacity next year. Wheelabrator has several plants in the works for later years, however. During the third quarter, New York's city council approved its solid waste plan, advancing the company's plans to build and operate a plant in the Brooklyn Navy Yards. The facility will convert 3,000 tons of trash daily into electrical energy and generate steam equivalent to about one million barrels of oil a year. The project, with an estimated value of $450 million, is set to begin construction in 1996 and start operating in 1999. In September, Wheelabrator was chosen to negotiate a contract to build and operate a 600-tons-a-day trash-to-energy facility in Charlotte, N.C., to be owned by the county government. The plant will sell steam to an adjacent General Tire plant, and sell electricity to Duke Power Co. Construction is set to begin in summer 1993, with the facility to be operational by 1996. Shortly after the end of the third quarter, the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection gave final approval to Wheelabrator Environmental Sys- tems for a trash-to-energy plant in Lisbon, Conn. The 600-tons- a-day plant should begin construction early in 1993 and be run- ning in 1995. Wednesday: California Energy Co. This article is copyright 1992 Investors Business Daily. Redis- tribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM