By: Media General Inc. -- owner of The Tampa Tribune, other newspapers and broadcast holdings -- on Thursday said May advertising revenue rose 9.3 percent in its publishing business.
The company also forecast second-quarter earnings will top the year-ago quarter's 80 cents per share, before a gain on the sale of a stake in the Denver Post. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Financial see earnings of 78 cents per share.
Publishing ad revenue in May increased to $41 million from $37.5 million a year ago, while total revenue during the month rose 6 percent to $76.9 million.
Stronger classified, retail and national sales boosted monthly ad revenue across all its newspaper holdings. Ad revenue rose 7.6 percent at its Richmond newspaper, 14 percent in Tampa, 6.2 percent in Winston-Salem and 6.8 percent among its community papers.
Media General posted a 4.6 percent rise in broadcast time sales to $28 million from $26.7 million.
At its online holdings, page views in May edged up 1.3 percent at Tampa's TBO.com and rose 1.5 percent at Winston-Salem's JournalNow.com. TimesDispatch.com in Richmond posted a 32.4 percent jump in page views.
Year to date, advertising revenue in Media General's publishing segment has risen 4.8 percent to $212.6 million. Total company revenue is up 3.5 percent to $394.1 million.
For the second quarter, Media General expects advertising revenue to grow 5 percent year over year on strength in classifieds and retail sales.
Media General is scheduled to report second-quarter results on July 13 before the market opens.
Shares of Media General rose 90 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $36.83 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $35.74 to $69.28.
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