Jul 29, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. Louisiana-Pacific Corp. posted a wider 2Q loss as results were hurt by the slump in the U.S. housing market and higher raw material costs, Reuters reported. Net loss in the quarter was $80.8 million, or $0.79 a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $23.3 million, or $0.22 a share. The company posted a loss from continuing operations of $0.77 a share, against a loss of $0.15, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company lost $0.34 a share, compared with a year-ago loss of $0.26 a share, but better than Wall Street's expectations of a loss of $0.38 a share. "Ongoing turmoil in the market pushed demand for most of our products significantly lower than the same quarter last year, with new housing starts declining more than 30%," CEO Rick Frost said in a statement. Earlier this month, the company agreed to pay more than $45 million to settle a class-action antitrust lawsuit that alleged several producers of oriented strand board (OSB) fixed prices. The company, which denies that it broke any laws in its actions, said it will pay $44.5 million into an escrow account to a class of direct purchasers of OSB, an engineered wood made from wood chips and used in construction.