Pulitzer Revenue Up 3.5% In February

By: E&P Staff Pulitzer Inc. said Tuesday its February revenue was up 3.5% compared to the same period in 2004, mainly on the strength of improving retail and national ad categories, and a boom in help-wanted ads in its dailies outside St. Louis.

Help-wanted classified revenue was up 41.2% in February over the same month in 2004 at the dozen Pulitzer Newspapers Inc. dailies. For the first nine weeks of the year, PNI help-wanted revenue is running 39% ahead of last year, Pulitzer said.

Help-wanted was also up big at the Tucson, Ariz., joint operating agency, increasing 22.5% in February. At the flagship St. Louis Post-Dispatch, help-wanted was up 7.4% for the month.

Comparable retail advertising revenue was up 5% at all papers, chiefly on preprint increases. ROP retail advertising decreased by 0.7%, Pulitzer said, on weakness in the department store, entertainment, and furniture categories.

National ad revenue was up 13.9% in February, on the strength of the telecommunications, automotive and pharmaceutical categories. Preprint led these categories, rising 50.1% over February 2004, while national ROP was up 7.7%.

Circulation revenue decreased 6.5% in February, "principally due to the absence of favorable circulation adjustments processed in St. Louis during February 2004," Pulitzer said.

Lee Enterprises is buying Pulitzer in a $1.46 billion cash deal expected to close by May.