Owens Corning reported an 80% drop in its first-quarter profit, however, still exceeding Wall Street estimates. "We knew going into the year that the first quarter was going to be our most difficult, based on the competitive pricing environment at the end of 1997," said Glen Hiner, Owens Corning chairman and chief execuive officer. He added, "Our restructuring and divestiture programmes are providing strategic repositioning, and our financial results are getting back on track. We made solid progress in the first quater." The company said net income was US$8m, or US$0.16/diluted, down from $42m, or $0.76/share. Operating income was$6m, or $0.12 diluted, beating the consensus first-call estimate of $0.07/share. Quarterly net sales rose 30% to a record $1.14bn. A knock-on effect on the company's UK-based Wrexham plant will be the loss of a further 45 jobs.
