By: (AP) The Washington Post Co. reported substantially higher net income for its second quarter Friday compared to the same quarter a year ago.
The parent company of
The Washington Post and
Newsweek reported net income of $51.1 million, or $5.34 a share. That was up from net income of $14.5 million, or $1.50 a share, for the second quarter of last year.
Results for the second quarter of 2002 included a $3.3 million loss on the write-down of certain investments and an early retirement program charge at
Newsweek of $1.6 million.
Results for the second quarter of 2001 included losses on the write-down of a non-operating parcel of land and on certain investments to their estimated fair value for a total of $4.7 million. The year-ago results also included a charge of $13.9 million for amortization of goodwill, which is no longer done under new accounting rules.
Excluding the one-time items, net income for the second quarter of 2002 totaled $56 million, or $5.85 per share, compared to net income of $33.1 million, or $3.45 per share, for the second quarter of 2001.
Revenue for the second quarter of 2002 was $647.7 million, up 7% from $603.9 million in 2001.
The company said the increase in revenue was due mostly to significant growth at the education division, where revenue of $149.7 million was up 25%, and the cable division, where revenue of $108 million was up 12%.
The broadcast division showed a 3% increase in revenue, at $86.1 million, and the newspaper publishing division revenue was up 1% at $215.1 million.
Revenues were down 3% at the magazine publishing division to $88.9 million.
"The advertising climate at both divisions continues to be soft," the company said in a statement.
For the first six months of the year, the company had net earnings of $62.8 million, or $6.51 per share, compared with net income of $213.5 million, or $22.39 per share, for the same period of 2001.
Six-month revenues rose 5% to $1.25 billion from $1.19 billion for the first six months of 2001.
The company's shares were up $30.01, or 5.7%, at $560.01 on the New York Stock Exchange.
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