SerivceMaster's Second-Quarter Earnings Slip

ServiceMaster Co., which provides lawn-care, pest-control and house-cleaning services, says second-quarter earnings slipped as the company booked restructuring charges.
 
ServiceMaster, whose brands include Merry Maids, TruGreen, ChemLawn, Terminix and Rescue Rooter, also raised its quarterly dividend and boosted its share buyback authorization.

Net income in the quarter slipped to $77.1 million, or 26 cents per share, from $79.8 million, or 27 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Wall Street was looking for earnings of 25 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.

Operating revenue grew 6 percent to $1.02 billion from $970.6 million last year. Wall Street forecast revenue of $1.04 billion.

ServiceMaster still expects full-year revenue to rise by a mid-single-digit percentage from last year's $3.24 billion.

Earnings from continuing operations, excluding restructuring charges, are projected to grow by a low-double-digit percentage.

The company also increased its third-quarter dividend 9 percent on a year-over-year basis, to 12 cents from 11 cents. The third-quarter dividend will be paid Aug. 31 to holders of record on Aug. 14.

ServiceMaster also says it boosted its share buyback plan for the second half of 2006 to $100 million, more than double the amount previously anticipated for the period. Added to activity earlier in the year, the buyback would result in about $150 million of share repurchases for 2006, the company says.