Belo Warns of Soft Q3

By: E&P Staff Belo reported today that consolidated revenue for August grew 3.2% compared to the same period last year.

Revenue at the company's newspaper group fell 1.2%.

"As in July, advertising revenues in August were strong in Belo's television group while newspaper group advertising revenues were blow our original projections," said Robert Decherd, Belo's chairman, president, and CEO, in a statement.

"Given the uneven nature recently of retail and national advertising that is impacting the newspaper industry and other media, it is unlikely that Belo's newspaper group will meet the third quarter revenue guidance we provided in our second quarter 2006 earnings release of flat newspaper advertising revenue versus the prior year," Decherd said.

At The Dallas Morning News, total revenue dropped 0.6%. Ad revenue decreased 2.3% Interactive revenue was up 43%. General full Run of Press (ROP) revenue grew 7.5%. Retail revenue advanced 3.3%. Classified revenue fell 4.4%. Within that category, real estate was up 1.2%, employment increased 1.2%, and auto slipped 19%. Preprint revenue declined 13% due to softness in the consumer goods, telecom, and department store categories.

At The Providence (R.I.) Journal, advertising revenue dropped 1.1%. Total revenue was down 1.9% Interactive revenue grew 70% lead by gains in classified employment, automotive, and real estate.

At The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., total revenue was down 2.5% and ad revenue dropped 1.7%. Classified real estate revenue advanced 31%. Advertising revenue associated with the paper's Web sites increased about 40%.