HOUSTON, Texas, Oct 26 (AFP) - Halliburton, the whipping boy of Democrats in the fight for the White House, reported Tuesday a quarterly loss and only meagre pickings from its vast operations in Iraq.
Halliburton, once run by Vice President Dick Cheney, has been lashed by Democrats for securing fat, no-bid government contracts in Iraq.
But the company said it made a loss of a loss of 44 million dollars, or nine cents a share, in the three months ending September 30 as costs of an asbestos-related settlement swelled to 230 million dollars.
A year earlier, Halliburton profits amounted to 58 million dollars, or 13 cents a share.
Revenues surged 15.5 percent to 4.79 billion dollars -- nearly 30 percent of which came from the operations in Iraq performed by Halliburton`s KBR unit, which has large Pentagon contracts in the Middle East.
But Halliburton said it squeezed out just four million dollars in operating profit from its Iraq operations, despite raking in 1.4 billion dollars in revenue.
Halliburton chairman, president and chief executive David Lesar said the core energy services business enjoyed record revenue, operating income, and operating margins.
KBR had restructured to cut costs and "resolved issues with customers on a number of projects," he added. "These efforts should position KBR for profitability in future years."
On Wall Street, Halliburton shares surged 1.38 dollars, or 4.02 percent, to 35.73 dollars.
Halliburton, of which Cheney was the chief executive from 1995 to 2000, vehemently rejects any allegations of special treatment by President George W. Bush`s administration.
But the company is struggling with a string of embarrassments, ranging from a dispute with the Pentagon over its accounting for Army support services to a bribery scandal swirling around an affiliate in Nigeria.
On Monday, the bad press got worse, with the US Army Corps of Engineers`s top civilian contracting official, Bunnatine Greenhouse, accusing the corps` leaders of interfering on behalf of Halliburton in awards of billion-dollar no-bid contracts in Iraq and the Balkans.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal said the US Army may allow the firm to keep billions of dollars for Iraq work that Pentagon auditors say is questionable or unsupported by documents.
Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry twisted the knife Tuesday.
"It`s time for a fresh start in Iraq: to bring our allies to the table; to train Iraqis quickly and effectively so we can bring our troops home; to use reconstruction money to benefit the Iraqi people, not Halliburton," he said in a prepared speech in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Earlier this month, Kerry`s running mate, Senator John Edwards, tried to tar the vice president during a televised debate, attacking the company`s record when Cheney was Halliburton chief executive.
"They did business with Libya and Iran, sworn enemies of the United States," Edwards said. "They are now under investigation for having bribed foreign officials during that period of time. Not only that, they got a 7.5 billion dollar no-bid contract in Iraq."
Cheney denies any direct financial interest in Halliburton.
In the past quarter, Halliburton`s KBR unit said it had an overall operating loss of 50 million dollars, reversing a year-earlier operating profit of 49 million dollars, because of some project losses.
KBR total revenues for the third quarter 2004 rose 15 percent to 2.7 billion dollars.
10/26/2004 21:38 GMT - AFP