USA: Unifi Projects Fourth Quarter Earnings

Unifi, Inc (NYSE: UFI) today announced that earnings per share for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2000 are expected to be approximately 10 per cent below the $.23 per share earned in the third quarter of fiscal 2000.Despite a strong start to the fourth quarter, earnings were negatively impacted by the following factors: a polyester price increase in May and June of approximately 8 per cent in Unifi's raw materials were not totally passed along to customers in the quarter; a softness in sales of the company's value-added fine denier nylon as retailers adjusted their sheer hosiery inventories by as much as 40 per cent to improve turns, which reduced operating profit in the quarter by approximately $3.