Halliburton posts wider loss on asbestos charge

Halliburton Co, which is under fire for its US government contracts to rebuild Iraq, on Thursday posted a wider fourth-quarter loss due to a $1.1 billion charge for settling asbestos injury claims.
The Houston-based oil field cervices company, once led by US Vice President Dick Cheney, reported a 63 percent surge in revenue to $5.46 billion in the quarter. The business its KBR engineering and construction group has taken on in the Middle East fuelled the quarterly revenue gain and buoyed earnings before charges.
Chairman and Chief Executive Dave Lesar said he expects customer spending to accelerate over the course of this year, boosting the company's stock to a more than two-year high.
In the fourth quarter, the litigation charge helped cause it to post a net loss of $947 million, or $2.17 per share, compared with a net loss of $616 million, or $1.42, in the year-ago quarter.
Excluding the charge, Halliburton posted earnings per share of 34 cents, 2 cents higher than the average analyst estimate, according to a survey by Reuters Research, a unit of Reuters Group Plc.
The KBR engineering and construction group saw revenue more than double to $3.7 billion, while revenue at the energy services group rose 5 percent to $1.8 billion.
Chris Gaut, Halliburton chief financial officer, said total company revenue was up $1.3 billion, 32 percent sequentially, due to government services work in Iraq.
Halliburton has faced continuing accusations it is unfairly profiting from the US occupation of Iraq through a cozy relationship with the Bush administration.
Seen as a symbol of that relationship is a no-bid contract, valued at $1.2 billion, awarded by the US Defence Department to restore Iraq's energy industry that also required Halliburton to supply fuel to US forces in Iraq.
Democratic lawmakers claim Halliburton is overcharging for imported fuel provided to the US military.
The $4.3 billion asbestos settlement is to resolve more than 300,000 claims by workers who said they were harmed by breathing asbestos fibres used in industrial furnaces built by a Halliburton subsidiary prior to a finding in the 1970s that asbestos is a carcinogen.