May 05, 2009. /Lesprom Network/. Weyerhaeuser posted a net loss of $264 million, or $1.25 cents per share, compared with a loss of $148 million, or 68 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time charges, the company lost 68 cents per share. Sales fell to $1.28 billion from $2.04 billion, as The Associated Press informed Lesprom Network. Timber earnings fell 64% to $40 million on lower volumes and prices, while earnings of pulp, which is used to maker paper and absorbent tissue, dropped 45% as selling prices declined. The loss from homebuilding deepened to $96 million from $74 million in the 1Q 2008, due to fewer home closings. Weyerhaeuser's wood products segment posted pretax earnings of $266 million, stronger than the year-earlier level of $277 million as lower costs, reduced expenses and reduced capacity offset weaker volumes and reduced prices. Sales of wood products fell to $542 million from $966 million. "The recession hit us hard," said Dan Fulton, the company's CEO. "Declining revenues during the quarter reflect reduced volume and depressed prices across all of our product lines." During the 1Q, the company permanently closed or curtailed 10 wood products mills. That is just over 15% of the facilities it was running last year, according to Weyerhaeuser's 2008 annual report, which lists 65 wood products facilities. Those 1Q actions bring to more than 30 the total number of mills in its wood products business closed or sold since the beginning of 2005. Besides the mill closures, Weyerhaeuser also shut 5 distribution centers in the 1Q. And the company is running nearly all of its wood mills at reduced rates. Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world’s largest forest products companies. Weyerhaeuser is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber; the manufacture, distribution and sale of forest products; and real estate construction and development.