Apogee Enterprises 3rd-quarter earnings rise

For the quarter ended Dec. 1, earnings were $5.8 million, or 20 cents per diluted share, compared with $3.0 million, or 11 cents per share, earned in the same period of the prior year.Revenues for the third quarter totaled $200.3 million, up from revenues of $197.3 million a year earlier.Apogee said it maintained its forecast of earnings per share between 85 cents and 90 cents for the fiscal year ending March 2, 2002, although fourth-quarter revenues are expected to decrease slightly.Debt is anticipated to decline to about $75 million by the end of the year.

Apogee expects earnings per share of $1.00 for fiscal 2003, on revenue growth in the low single digits.