Earnings roundup

Net income dropped to $344.9 million, or $1.14 a share, from $450 million, or $1.44, a year earlier, said Nucor, based in Charlotte, N.C. Sales rose 9.5 percent to $4.17 billion.

Nucor has several operations in Box Elder County.

An 18 percent jump in costs for scrap metal, the key feedstock in Nucor's electric-arc furnaces, and rising energy prices eroded profits. Steel demand from U.S. automakers such as General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. is falling as they grapple with declining sales.

Honeywell

Honeywell International Inc., a diversified maker of high-tech products, said its second-quarter profit grew 17 percent on stronger sales of aerospace products and on controls and systems that help customers manage industrial processes.

Quarterly earnings rose to $611 million, or 78 cents per share, for the three months ended June 30 from $521 million, or 63 cents per share, in the prior-year period. Sales rose to $8.54 billion from $7.9 billion.

Honeywell has an automotive filter plant in Clearfield.

Wall Street had expected earnings of 75 cents per share on $8.42 billion in sales, according to a Thomson Financial analyst survey.

Honeywell said sales gains for its aerospace, automation and control and transportation units helped to offset a 3 percent decline in specialty materials revenue.

Schiff Nutrition

Salt Lake-based Schiff Nutrition International Inc., a maker of vitamins, nutritional supplements and nutrition bars, said it plans to give stockholders a special cash dividend of $1.50 a share payable on Aug. 13.

The company's net income for the fourth quarter fell 40 percent to $3.7 million, or 13 cents a share, from $6.2 million, or 23 cents, the company said in a statement.

Schiff's revenue for the fiscal quarter ended May 31 dropped 5 percent to $43.2 million from $45.3 million the year before, the statement said.

The dividend payment to shareholders of record as of the close of business on July 31 "reflects our confidence the company will continue to generate positive cash flows from operations during fiscal 2008," Chief Executive Officer Bruce Wood said in the statement.

Union Pacific

Union Pacific Corp. said its second-quarter profit rose 14 percent, led by higher commodity revenue and price increases for all classes of freight carried by the nation's biggest railroad.

The Omaha-based company said it earned $446 million, or $1.65 per share, during the quarter that ended June 30, up from $390 million, or $1.44 per share, a year ago.