Avery Dennison’s slump persists

Avery Dennison Corp.’s first-quarter earnings will probably represent less than 20% of the label maker’s profit for the year, Chief Executive Dean Scarborough said.

Price increases and cost reductions will probably produce more benefits in the second half of the year, Avery Dennison said.

“The weak business conditions we saw in the fourth quarter have generally continued,” Scarborough said in the statement, which included comments he made at a meeting of analysts and investors in New York.

Avery Dennison fell $1.37, or 2.7%, to $49.80.

Scarborough said margins would remain narrow until the firm saw benefits from late first-quarter price increases. Some of the Pasadena company’s “economically sensitive businesses” also have produced weaker results, he said.