S&P: Dole Food on watch

Standard & Poor's said it placed its corporate credit and other ratings on Dole Food Co. Inc. on CreditWatch with negative implications, meaning that the ratings could be lowered or affirmed.

The agency said that the CreditWatch placement follows third-quarter operating results and resulting credit measures that did not meet its prior expectations, including reducing leverage to closer to 8x by the end of the third quarter in order to reach 7.0x-7.5x by the end of fiscal 2007.

For the 12 months ended Oct. 6, leverage was 8.8 times, the agency said, adding that while there are no near-term liquidity concerns and performance has improved modestly over a difficult 2006, credit measures have not been restored to levels previously expected.

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