Lee Enterprises December Revenue Up

By: Lee Enterprises Inc., a daily newspaper publisher, said Monday same-property revenue grew 2.7 percent in December.

Same-property revenue totaled $94.6 million, from $92 million last year. Same-property revenue, a key measure of performance, excludes properties bought or sold in the current and prior year.

Results were hurt by an ice storm in the St. Louis region that caused 450,000 homes and businesses to lose power. Storms also hurt Lee markets in Illinois.

Same-property advertising revenue grew 2.3 percent to $73.5 million, from $71.8 million last year. Online advertising revenue jumped 53.9 percent to $3.3 million, from $2.1 million last year.

Retail advertising edged up 0.3 percent to $43.4 million, from $43.3 million last year.

At daily newspapers, employment ad revenue grew 4.2 percent to $5.4 million. Automotive ad revenue fell 1.1 percent to $4.1 million. Real estate revenue fell 0.3 percent to $4.1 million. Other classifieds were up 2.8 percent to $2.9 million.

Classifieds in non-daily publications grew 5.3 percent to $3.3 million.

National ad revenue edged down 0.6 percent to $5.8 million. Niche publication ad revenue grew 3.8 percent to $1.2 million while circulation revenue rose 3.7 percent to $16.9 million.