By: Mark Fitzgerald The McClatchy Co. reported Wednesday that its July total revenue fell 16.4% on weak advertising results, paced by the continuing collapse in print classifieds.
Print-only classified plunged 34.4% compared to July 2007, McClatchy said. Revenue from employment classifieds fell 44.9%; real estate 42.5%; and automotive 29.4%.
The bright spot in the month was that online revenue, which had been slipping recently at McClatchy's papers, jumped 12.8%. Through July, online revenue is up 11.7% for the year.
Online retail nearly doubled, soaring 95.9% to $3.94 million. The much-smaller national category rocketed 160.2% to $1.33 million.
McClatchy reported some online weaknesses, however. Online classified overall was down 7.4%, chiefly on a 27.1% drop in the employment category.
McClatchy also continued to suffer from geography, and the special impact the housing crunch has had in Florida and California. Revenue was down 19.1% in the California market, and 30.3% in Florida.
"As we anticipated, July advertising activity turned out to be only slightly better than June," McClatchy CFO Pat Talamantes said. "Online advertising continues to be a bright spot for the company, with online advertising up in all categories except employment advertising. In fact, when employment advertising, which has declined nationally both in print and online, is excluded our online advertising was up 58.5% in July and was up 56.0% in the first seven months of 2008."
Just after markets opened Wednesday morning, McClatchy stock (NYSE: MNI) was trading near its 52-week low at $3.94, down 7 cents, or 1.75%, from the open. It has traded in a 52-week range of $3.73 to $23.58.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here