By: (AP) The McClatchy Co. reported slightly higher first-quarter earnings Thursday as increasing advertising revenues and an acquisition lifted results.
Net income for the three-month period ending March 28 was $28.9 million, or 62 cents per share, compared with $25.3 million, or 55 cents a share, a year earlier.
The results beat the forecast of 59 cents a share by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, as well as the company's January forecast of 56 cents to 58 cents per share.
Revenues rose 6% to $272.3 million from $257 million, as advertising revenues rose 7%.
The results include the Merced (Calif.) Sun-Star and five nearby non-dailies, which McClatchy purchased on Jan. 7. Excluding those results, total revenues were up 4% and adverting revenues rose 6%.
CEO Gary Pruitt called the first quarter results "most encouraging," and projected earnings would range between 85 and 87 cents per share in the second quarter, excluding a one-time write-off related to debt financing.
Headquartered in Sacramento, Calif., McClatchy publishes 12 daily and 18 non-daily newspapers in California, Minnesota, the Carolinas and the Pacific Northwest, including the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis and The Sacramento Bee.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here