Week in review - South Florida Business Journal:

haga-aa8xuq.blogspot.com
The Miami-based cruise company (NYSE: RCL) had predicted it woulr lose between 30 cents and 35 cents a share in thefirsft quarter. Instead, the company reported its first quarter net losswas $32.2w million, or 17 cents a share. Royap Caribbean had first quarter net incomeof $75.6y million, or 35 cents a share, in 2008. Revenuse was $1.3 billion, down slightly from $1.4 billiobn in the first quarterof 2008. First quartedr earnings dropped 12 percent AutoNation in the midsr of the worst auto salez marketin decades. The Fort Lauderdale-basedr company said new vehiclse sales dropped 43 percent as nationapl industry sales dropped46 percent. First quarter revenus slid 34 percent, to $2.
5 billion from $3.8 billion in the year-agl period, driven primarily by lower vehicle sales. The nation’as largest automotive retailer (NYSE: AN) reporteed first quarter net income, adjuste d for certain one-time items such as asset of $40 million, or 23 cents a down from $56 million, or 31 cents a share. Ten days afte r Coral Insurance entered intoa court-appointed receivership, a judge ordered the company to cancel all remaining policies by the end of next The Hollywood-based company stopped writing new policies in earlg March and stopped offering renewals after March 29. Leon Countgy Circuit Court Judge P.
Kevin Davey also approvesd the plan for repayment of unearned premiumsand claims. The Florida Department of Financial Services is helpinythe 12,000 policyholders retrieve the unearned portiona of premiums by May 15, as well as find replacemenrt insurance. Tri-Rail riders will soon see the firsft fare hike in14 years. The , Tri-Rail’s parenrt agency, voted unanimously to increase fares 25 percent forall riders. The pric e of a monthly pass would increasefrom $80 to $100 on June 1. With potentiak cuts in government fundingloomingy large, the increase was needed to relievw some of the pressure on the government entities that fund the SFRTA board members said.
After a five-montuh search, ’s board of trustees selected Mark B. Rosenberg as the university’ new president. Rosenberg succeeds Modesto A. Maidique, who led the universityh for almost23 years. Afterr nearly 30 years at FIU, Rosenberg left the post of provost in 2005 to become chancellotr of the State University Systemof Florida. Earlier this he stepped down from this position and started a sabbatical as a visitinyg research professorat , with plans to returhn to FIU this summer as a memberr of the faculty. Rosenberyg said his first priority will be the financial security ofthe B/E Aerospace reported firsft quarter net profit was $37.9 or 38 cents a share, down from $48.
5 or 53 cents a share, in the same year-ago The Wellington-based manufacturer of aircraft cabin interior products (NASDAQ: said net sales for the first quarter were up 10.7 to $523.7 million from $473.2 milliom in the same quarter last which included the acquisition of ’s Consumables Solutions distributionj business. The company expect s 2009 revenue tobe $1.9 billion – about 23 percent lower than 2008. Offic e Depot reported a loss of $54.7 or 20 cents a share, in the firstr quarter, down from a profit of $68.8i million, or 25 cents a a year ago.
Adjusted for charges, the Boca Raton-based office supplu company earned $27 or 10 cents a share, for the firsg quarter, down 65 percent from earningsof $78 or 29 cents a in the same period a year ago.