Fruit and produce distributor Dole Foods Co. earned $66 million, or 74 cents per share, in its second quarter and said that a proposed spin off of its packaged foods business could happen by year’s end.

The earnings announced on July 19 were down from $83 million, or 94 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2011. Revenue fell 10 percent to $1.7 billion in the second quarter for the Westlake Village-based company.

Dole’s President and CEO David A. DeLorenzo said the company’s earnings were on par with expectations for the quarter. 
“Earnings in our packaged foods segment were lower than last year, as expected, due to the launch of our national advertising campaign to support our new Fruit Smoothie Shakers and Frozen Fruit Single-serve cups.”
Shares of the company were trading at $8.83 at market close on July 19, up two cents from the beginning of the day.