By: Newspaper publisher Journal Register Co. said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit grew 4 percent, helped by a sharp rise in advertising sales and higher circulation revenue.
Quarterly income rose to $15.4 million, or 37 cents per share, from $14.8 million, or 35 cents, in the year-ago period. That topped the company's internal forecast of earnings of 34 cents to 36 cents per share and the average estimate of 34 cents from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.
Journal Register shares were up 97 cents, or 5.4 percent, at $18.81 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Revenue totaled $146.7 million, a gain of 36 percent from $107.7 million a year earlier, but just missing the $147.6 million targeted by Wall Street analysts.
Overall ad revenue expanded 41 percent to $115 million, while circulation revenue also rose 22 percent to $26.9 million, the company said.
Chairman and Chief Executive Robert M. Jelenic said in a prepared statement that results were driven by cost controls, strong online revenues and new revenues from four daily newspapers in Michigan acquired last August.
"We remain optimistic that our advertising revenue trends will improve" over the rest of the year, he said.
The company said Jelenic has been diagnosed with a treatable form of cancer, and is expected to have surgery shortly. President and Chief Operating Officer Jean Clifton, who also is juggling the vacant chief financial officer post, will oversee Jelenic's CEO duties while he recovers. Jelenic, who remains chairman of the board, expects to resume a full-time schedule within a few months.
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