Today's Bad News Continues: April Ad Revenue Down 7% at McClatchy

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By: E&P Staff Advertising revenue at McClatchy declined 7.6% to $187.5 million in April compared to the same period a year ago. Total revenue was down 5.5% to $225.1 million.

The company also reported that Internet advertising revenue fell 2.1% to $15.3 million citing a new affiliate agreement with CareerBuilder for the decline. McClatchy expects to cycle through the change in August 2007.

?As we anticipated, advertising trends weakened during April, reflecting in part, the shift of Easter in the calendar year, which helped retail advertising in March to the detriment of our April 2007 retail revenues,? said Pat Talamantes, McClatchy?s CFO, in a statement.

Retail advertising revenue fell 5% to $80.8 million. National dropped 13.5% to $17.1 million. Classified was down 12% to $73.0 million. Within the classified category, auto fell 16%, real estate dropped 15.8%, and employment slipped 9%.

Circulation revenue was down 4.2% to $27.1 million.

By region, advertising revenue at McClatchy?s California papers decreased 12.1% to $35.6 million. Ad revenue in Florida fell 19.5% to $28.3 million. In the southeast, ad revenue was down 2.3% to $48.1 million.

Executives at McClatchy do not expect trends to reverse next month and warned of more declines. ?We have our most difficult advertising comparison of the second quarter in May,? Talamantes said. ?We are managing through the challenges of cyclical and structural change with a strong focus on cost reduction, including the realization of the $70 million in synergies from the acquisition of Knight Ridder.?

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