Weatherford 3rd quarter earnings down, revenue short of view

Nov 12 (Reuters) - Oilfield services company Weatherford International Ltd posted a decline in quarterly pre-tax earnings on Monday as it booked charges for the reduced value of inventory and for professional fees related to tax remediation efforts.

The company, based in Switzerland, is reporting earnings on a pre-tax basis because it is still working through "material weakness" in its internal controls over tax reporting.

Weatherford made a third quarter pre-tax profit of $191 million, down from $270 million a year before. Excluding a $29 million charge for reducing the carrying value of inventory, $27 million for the tax-related fees and two other items, the company made $264 million, down from $288 million a year before.

Revenue increased 13 percent to $3.82 billion, short of the average estimate of $3.9 billion on Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.