Net at United Technologies Declines 70% --- First-Quarter Results Hurt Due to Slump in Airlines, Buildings, Auto Sectors
HARTFORD, Conn. -- United Technologies Corp.'s first-quarter earnings plunged 70% as the recession battered important businesses serving commercial airlines, buildings systems, and automotive industries.</br></br>Net income fell to $40.2 million, or 25 cents a share, from the year-earlier $134.5 million or $1.01 a share. Revenue was flat at $4.8 billion.</br></br>"This is the first time that all three of these core commercial markets simultaneously have been at the bottom of their industry cycles," said Robert F. Daniell, chairman and chief executive officer.</br></br>And, he added, "we are not running our businesses on the assumption that the recession is nearing an end."</br></br>The extent of the earnings decline came as a shock to some analysts, even though the company had warned Wall Street earlier this year that its 1991 outlook was less than sanguine. "The numbers cannot be characterized as anything short of disappointment," said Howard Rubel, an analyst with C.J. Lawrence, Morgan Grenfell Inc. "Everything that's bad with the economy is showing up in UTC's earnings."