By: (AP) The McClatchy Co. reported a 10% gain in third-quarter earnings Wednesday as advertising revenues rose. The company lifted its estimate for full-year results.
The Sacramento, Calif.-based publisher earned $35.8 million in the three months ending in September, or 77 cents per share, compared with net earnings of $32.6 million, or 71 cents per share, in the same period last year.
The results were well ahead of the 71 cents per share that analysts polled by Thomson First Call had been expecting.
Revenues rose 3% to $272.1 million from $264.2 million. Advertising revenues rose 4.2% and circulation revenues rose 0.1%.
"The combination of a very good advertising month in September and cost controls resulted in our earnings coming in above the range we had previously anticipated for the quarter," chief executive Gary Pruitt said in a statement.
The company now expects to report full-year earnings of between $2.99 and $3.02 per share, up from its previous estimate of between $2.85 and $2.95 per share.
Despite the improved results and outlook, McClatchy's shares declined amid an overall slump on the New York Stock Exchange, falling 24 cents at $62.61 in morning trading.
For the first nine months of the year, net income was $104.6 million or $2.25 per share. That figure includes income from the operating results and the sale of The Newspaper Network, which was sold in June 2003 and produced a gain of 13 cents per share. In the same period a year ago, the company earned $92.2 million or $2 per share.
Nine-month revenues rose 3% to $806.4 million from $785.3 million last year. Advertising revenues rose 4%, but circulation revenues were down 0.2% from 2002.
McClatchy publishes 11 daily newspapers, including the
Star Tribune in Minneapolis;
The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee and
The Modesto Bee in California; and
The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here