Lee Reports Weak April

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By: E&P Staff Advertising revenue at Lee Enterprises dropped 3.5% to $76.8 million in April compared to the same period a year ago. Online advertising grew 64% to $5.6 million. Combined print and online advertising fell 2.5%.

Retail print advertising revenue declined 4.7% to $39.1 million. Classified print advertising decreased 7.7% to $26.1 million. Within the classified category, help-wanted was down 7.7%, automotive plunged 11.7%, and real estate slipped 10.5%. National advertising dropped 15.7% to $4.5 million.

Circulation revenue fell 3.1% to $18.1 million.

"Although ad revenue remains lackluster especially in national, auto, and real estate, we have seen an uptick so far in May and expect to post somewhat better results next month," Mary Junck, chairman and CEO of Lee, said in a statement. "Online growth continues to be exceptionally strong, partly due to our strategic initiatives with Yahoo. Since our rollout of the HotJobs platform in February and March, we've already upsold more than 46,000 postings to the network."

In St. Louis, advertising revenue dropped 5.1% due to weakness in national, especially telecommunications.

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