Western Resources announces first-quarter 2000 earnings of $59.5 million, or 88 cents per common share, vs. $20.5 million, or 31 cents per share, for the same period in 1999. The conglomerate’s Westar Capital segment—which includes monitored services companies, such as Protection One, Protection One Europe, Paradigm Direct and Guardian Intl.—earned 85 cents per common share, compared to 21 cents in 1999. Pro One reports net income for the period of $4 million, or 3 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $4.8 million, or a loss of 4 cents per share, in the previous comparable cycle.
Pro One continues to cite improvements in its operations and customer attrition rates. Overall, customer attrition decreased to 11.1 percent in the quarter from 14.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 1999. Western Resources is a consumer services company with interests in monitored services and energy and total assets of $8 billion. Pro One has more than 1.4 million security subscribers in 48 states.