Times Mirror Profits Slip in 2nd Quarter

Caught in the media industry doldrums, Times Mirror Co. reported Wednesday that its second-quarter net income fell nearly 35% to $30.7 million, or 24 cents a share, while revenue slipped nearly 3% to $880.5 million.

But the picture improves when a one-time pretax loss of $20.6 million on the recent sale of Broadcasting Publications Inc. is factored out. Excluding the net loss of 9 cents a share on the sale, second-quarter earnings would have fallen 8.3% to 33 cents a share, or about $42.3 million.

“It’s a little stronger than I had been expecting,” said Bruce Thorp, a media analyst for Provident National Bank in Philadelphia.

The results reflect “a little more cost control than I had been willing to project,” Thorp said. But cost cuts work only so long, and eventually “you’ve got to get the revenue back, and that’s what we’re looking for, if not in the third quarter then certainly by the fourth,” he said.

In announcing the results, Times Mirror Chairman and Chief Executive Robert F. Erburu said: “Effective cost reductions throughout the company and continued solid revenue and earnings gains from our non-advertising-dependent operations have partially offset the loss of advertising revenues during this recessionary period.

“We expect to continue to benefit from cost reductions and the performance of our non-media operations, but at this point it is unclear when advertising revenues will improve significantly,” Erburu said. “Thus, it is likely that our earnings will continue to be adversely impacted.”

Despite circulation gains, operating profits fell 13.9% at Times Mirror’s newspapers, which include The Times, Newsday in New York, the Baltimore Sun and others. Operating earnings at the broadcast television group were off 27%. The cable television group saw operating profits jump 16.3%, while the book, magazine and other publishing group posted a 20.1% surge in operating earnings.

“It’s been a tough year” for media companies, said John Morton, a Washington-based analyst for Lynch, Jones & Ryan. “It’s somewhat encouraging that (Times Mirror’s earnings report) wasn’t any worse.”