Maytag’s earnings off in first quarter

Newton-based appliance manufacturer Maytag Incorporated released sales figures for the first quarter today. The figures show a drop of one percent compared to last year’s record one-point-one-billion dollars. But C-E-O Lloyd Ward says the sales were better than anticipated. Ward says the company looks for most of its sales and earnings growth to come in the second half of the year due to new products. The company’s home appliance segment produced sales of 953-point-four million dollars, up three percent. The corporation’s commercial sales were down 19-percent from last year to 148-point-four million dollars.