Olson Industries Posts Profit

Bolstered by its profitable plastics packaging business, a slimmed-down Olson Industries reported second-quarter net income of $256,000, or 38 cents a share, an upturn from a loss of nearly $1.2 million, or $1.08 a share, in the same period a year earlier.

The Sherman Oaks-based company said its sales declined 13%, to $23.5 million, because it divested much of its egg operation. Olson Industries was one of the nation’s biggest distributors of eggs until last November, when the two Olson brothers who founded the business more than 50 years ago split it up to end a long-running dispute.

The company’s chairman and president, J. W. Buffington, said Olson Industries’ profit was held down in the second quarter by losses stemming from depressed egg prices.