Forest products company Rayonier has announced that its second-quarter earnings fell by 22.4%, blaming large-scale forest fires.
The Florida-based firm saw earnings during the three months fall from US$42.9m in 2006 to US$33.3m in 2007 and also recorded a US$2m decline in earnings between the first and second quarters of 2007.
Despite the downturn, chairman, president and chief executive officer Lee Thomas said: “We are pleased with our second quarter, despite the difficulties we experienced with the wildfires.”
Rayonier cited fires in south-east Georgia and north-east Florida as reasons for its losses in 2007, adding that the company had benefited from the sale of shares in a New Zealand timber consortium during the same period a year earlier.
