Anchor Glass First-Quarter Loss Widens

In the latest three-month period, the company's loss deepened to $12.8 million, or 52 cents per share, from $4.3 million, or 17 cents, in the year-ago period.Restructuring charges amounted to 6 cents per share, offset by a gain of 13 cents from selling a non-operating property.

Still, Anchor Glass' quarterly loss was well below the average estimate for a loss of 29 cents per share from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

Net sales totaled $179.3 million, a decrease of 5 percent from $189.6 million a year earlier and just missing the $179.8 million targeted by Wall Street analysts. Overall volume fell 5 percent, reflecting less sales of beer bottles while liquor volume improved, the company said.

"Glass demand in the beer category, which represents the majority of our business portfolio, continues to be impacted by consumer demand softness," Peter Reno, interim operating committee chairman, said. "We were able to offset some of this lost revenue, however, with higher shipments in the liquor category where we saw year-over-year gains."

Anchor Glass said costs from restructuring activities are expected to total $52.6 million to $54 million, of which $50.1 million has already been recorded through the latest quarter.

The remaining $1.7 million will be logged in the second quarter, including $800,000 from cutting corporate and support staff, the company added.

Shares of Anchor Glass rose 2 cents to $1.88 during morning trading on the Nasdaq.