USX Marathon cites rising oil prices for earnings growth

by The Associated Press

Rising crude oil prices allowed USX’s Marathon Group to reverse a first quarter loss of 4 cents a share, but second quarter income still showed a 30 percent drop compared to last year.

Overall, the oil side of USX’s business reported a $119 million profit or 39 cents a diluted share, compared with $162 million or 56 cents in the second quarter of last year.

Marathon Group’s results, announced July 21, exceeded the expectations of analysts surveyed by the research firm First Call Corp., which reported a consensus estimate of 37 cents a share.

Second quarter revenues were $5.48 billion, about 1 percent lower than the $5.53 billion in revenues reported for the same quarter a year ago.

The 1999 second-quarter results do not include adjustments in the value of the company’s oil inventories. Including that adjustment, the Marathon Group reported profit of $134 million or 43 cents a share.

Chairman Thomas Usher attributed the decline in profit between last year and this to lower prices for refined oil products.