By: (AP) The Washington Post Co. and Media General Inc. reported third-quarter results Friday that beat Wall Street's expectations, even as the advertising slump continued to limit profits.
But Media General reduced its outlook for future earnings, sending its shares lower. Washington Post shares also slipped after rising earlier in the week.
The Washington Post Co.The publisher of
The Washington Post and
Newsweek reported sharply higher profits for the July-September period, as revenue growth at its education, broadcast, and cable divisions offset softness in newspaper and magazine operations.
It earned $47.77 million, or $4.99 a share, in the quarter compared with $1.57 million, or 14 cents a share, in 2001. If accounting standards adopted in 2002 were applied to 2001 results, net income would have been $15.2 million, or $1.61 per share, for the third quarter of 2001.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned $52.2 million, or $5.46 per share, in the quarter. The consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call was for earnings of $4.94 per share, excluding one-time items.
Revenues for the quarter were $640.3 million, up 8% from $592.3 million a year ago. Revenue at the newspaper division was up slightly, but slipped at the magazine division, reflecting the difficult advertising environment.
For the first nine months of the year, the company earned $110.5 million, or $11.50 per share, down from $215.1 million, or $22.53 per share, a year ago. Revenue rose to $1.89 billion from $1.78 billion in 2001.
The Washington Post Co. is a diversified media company with interests in publishing, television, cable, and electronic information businesses. It also owns Kaplan Inc., a provider of education and career services.
Media General Inc.The Richmond, Va.-based newspaper and television company earned $9.5 million, or 41 cents a share, for the quarter ending Sept. 29, in contrast to a loss of $736,000, or 3 cents a share, a year earlier.
The latest results beat the consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call by 4 cents a share.
Revenue rose 4.2% to $201.2 million from $193.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Publishing revenues declined by 2.1% from a year ago, but broadcast revenues rose 16.8%, driven by strong sales of political advertising in addition to growth in automobile, services, and entertainment ads.
Chairman and Chief Executive J. Stewart Bryan III said Media General's broadcasting advertising growth outpaced the industry average.
For the first nine months of the year, Media General lost $94.5 million, or $4.07 per share, in contrast to a profit of $10.3 million, or 45 cents per share, in 2001. Revenue rose to $607.4 million from $597.7 million a year earlier.
For the rest of the year, Bryan said, the company expects "continued robust activity" in its broadcasting business and for its newsprint and newspaper divisions to continue to perform at about the same level as in the third quarter.
The company said it expected fourth-quarter earnings to come in at around 80 cents per share, which would put the full-year earnings at $2.17 per share. The analyst consensus was for 91 cents in the fourth quarter and $2.24 for the full year.
Media General has interests in newspapers, television, interactive media, and diversified information services, mainly in the Southeast. Its newspapers include
The Tampa Tribune, the
Winston-Salem Journal, the
Richmond Times-Dispatch and 22 other dailies.
In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the company's shares fell 36 cents to $54.10.
On the Net:
http://www.washpostco.com/http://www.mediageneral.com
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