By: (AP) Media General Inc. said Friday its third-quarter net income more than quadrupled from a year ago, when the company recorded an accounting charge, as political spending on broadcast advertising grew and on growth in newspaper advertising.
The owner of the Richmond Times-Dispatch earned $15.7 million, or 66 cents per share, in the quarter ended Sept. 26, up from $3.7 million, or 16 cents per share, in the year-earlier period. Revenues increased 6 percent to $217.6 million from $205.1 million.
Excluding an accounting charge and results from a small discontinued operation, Media General earned $11.4 million, or 49 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2003. The company sold Media General Financial Services last year.
J. Stewart Bryan III, chief executive of Media General, said he was pleased with the company's results, but he added that growth was "tempered somewhat" by hurricanes in August and September that affected advertising sales in Florida and Alabama. He esimated the lost revenue and increased expenses from the storms at $2 million to $2.5 million.
For the first nine months of the year, Media General's net income rose 54 percent to $43.3 million, or $1.83 a share, from $28.2 million, or $1.21 per share, in the year-ago period. Revenues rose 6 percent to $650.7 million from $611.9 million.
Media General also reported that its monthly revenue rose 4 percent to $69.2 million in September from $66.6 million in the same month a year ago. Publishing division sales increased 3 percent, while broadcast revenue was up 4 percent. Interactive Media sales rose 34 percent.
Media General owns newspapers, television stations, and online businesses in the Southeast. The company's newspaper properties include The Tampa Tribune and the Winston-Salem Journal. It owns a 20 percent interest in The Denver Post.
The company's shares were up 35 cents at $55.35 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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