By: (AP) The New York Times Co. reported a 4 percent decline in third-quarter earnings Wednesday, despite higher advertising revenues, due to higher costs for newsprint and investments in expanding its flagship newspaper and The International Herald Tribune.
The company, which also publishes The Boston Globe and a group of regional newspapers, earned $48.3 million in the three months ending in September, down from $50.1 million in the corresponding period a year ago. The per-share earnings of 33 cents were even with last year's results and a penny ahead of the estimates of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.
Total revenues rose 2 percent to $773.8 million from $759.3 million a year ago.
Advertising revenues rose 4 percent across the company, but that growth was offset by rising costs for newsprint -- which grew 10 percent in the quarter compared with last year -- as well as higher printing costs linked to the expansion of the Times and the Herald Tribune, and higher promotion costs.
The company also announced that advertising revenues increased 2 percent in September compared with the same month last year, and that ad revenues were growing at a faster rate thus far in October than they were in September.
However, Leonard Forman, the company's chief financial officer, said in a statement that the advertising environment remains "uncertain" and that "month-to-month variability is significant."
For the first nine months of the year, the company earned $182.4 million, or $1.21 per share, compared with $191.8 million, or $1.25 per share, in the year-ago period. Nine-month revenues rose 2 percent to $2.4 billion from $2.34 billion.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here