By: E&P Staff Knight Ridder announced April revenues today and the results were mixed. Total advertising revenue was up 1.1%. A weak showing in retail (down 1.6%) and national advertising (down 0.9%) dragged on the total. In March, the company reported an increase of 5.6% for total advertising revenue.
The strongest growth was in the classified category, up 3.5%. Within classifieds, recruitment increased 15.7%. Many Knight Ridder markets reported double-digit growth in help-wanted advertising including San Jose, Calif. (up 25.7%), Contra Costa, Calif. (up 22.6%), Miami (up 18.5%), Fort Worth, Texas (up 16.8%), Charlotte, N.C. (up 15.8%) and Kansas City (up 13.6%).
Total operating revenue for April increased 1%.
"We were pleased with the continued strength in help wanted and real estate classified advertising," said Gary Effren, senior vice president and CFO of Knight Ridder in a statement. "All newspapers showed year-over-year increases in employment, with Philadelphia turning the corner this month." Philadelphia's help-wanted revenues increased 3.3%.
Circulation revenues declined 2.6%, which the company attributes to discounting. Overall, daily morning circ grew 0.5%. Sunday circ was down 0.9%.
April was expected to be a soft month for newspaper companies after many rode the wave of an early Easter holiday. Still, according to a report released today by Merrill Lynch, Knight Ridder's April revenues -- especially in the national and retail categories -- "were below expectations."
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