Note: The headline of the article copied below describes the quarterly results as a "loss" rather than as "declining" according to the text.

Farmer Bros. posts 8th straight quarterly loss

By Muhammed El-Hasan
DAILY BREEZE

Profit at Torrance coffee roaster and distributor Farmer Bros. Co. plunged by more than half in the last quarter, marking the eighth consecutive quarter of declining earnings.

On Friday, the company reported earnings of $2.51 million or $1.41 per share in the fiscal first quarter ended Sept. 30. That’s down 55 percent from the same period a year ago, which saw earnings of $5.61 million or $3.03 per share.

Revenues were down 9 percent to $45.7 million in the last quarter, compared with $50.4 million for the same period last year.

The company blamed the drop mainly on “recession-related” declines in business and consumer spending and lower coffee-brewing equipment sales. The firm said it had higher operating expenses because of the rising price of green coffee and increases in employee expenses related to a companywide computer upgrade.

Also on Friday, lawyers for Catherine E. Crowe and her two children filed a petition to prevent her brother, chairman Roy F. Farmer, from using Crowe-owned stocks to vote for management-sponsored proposals at the Jan. 5 shareholder meeting.

The Crowes own stocks with a 12.5 percent company stake contained in family trusts that Farmer controls. The petition asks that the court appoint Judge Arnold Gold as an interim trustee.

The petition pertains strictly to the Nov. 5 shareholder meeting. An earlier Crowe petition asked that Farmer be permanently removed as trustee of the family trusts. The Crowes have sided with dissident shareholders who accuse Farmer and the company’s management of wielding too much power and not being open enough with information.

Farmer has said he intends to use the Crowe shares to vote in favor of a proposal to reincorporate in Delaware, a move that would severely limit investor-sponsored proposals.

Publish Date:November 19, 2003

© Copyright 2003 Copley Press, Inc.

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