Owens-Illinois met second-quarter earnings which had already been predicted to be lower than a year ago. Third-quarter earnings were also due to be below the year-ago period due to demand problems overseas. The Toledo, Ohio-based container manufacturer said it earned 61 cents a share in the quarter from operations, in line with analyst's expectations, according to First Call Corp. That excluded an unusual gain relating to the sale of some assets and charges for restructuring some European and S American operations. Owens-Illinois said in April that it expected second-quarter results below the 1998 second quarter. Including special items, the company earned US$110.9m, or 67 cents/share, down 4% from US%115m, or 75 cents/share, it earned int he year-ago quarter. The year-ago quarter also included 9 cents of extraordinary charges.
