EARNINGS : Times Mirror Net Dips 5%, but Operating Income Rises
Times Mirror Co. on Thursday reported a 5% decline in second-quarter profit but posted higher operating income from its publishing and information businesses, as cost-cutting programs improved profit margins and newspaper earnings soared.
The Los Angeles-based media company, which publishes the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, posted net income of $45.4 million, or 35 cents a share, for the three months ended June 26. That compares to $47.9 million, or 37 cents a share, in the same quarter last year.
The quarterly figures include financial results from what the company is reporting as discontinued operations. Those operations include the company’s cable television systems, which will be merged with those of Cox Cable Communications under an agreement announced in June, and its broadcast television segment, which was sold last year.
Quarterly operating profit from Times Mirror’s continuing operations, which include newspapers as well as book and magazine publishing, climbed to $32.1 million from $20.4 million during the same period last year.
“Our financial performance in the second quarter showed continued upward momentum in newspaper publishing, with revenue growth and margin expansion through continued cost containment,” Robert F. Erburu, Times Mirror’s chairman, chief executive and president, said in a statement.
On the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, Times Mirror shares rose 75 cents to close at $30.
The company’s operating units reported mixed second-quarter results.
Newspapers, which include The Times, the Baltimore Sun and Newsday, saw operating profit jump 30.5% to $52.9 million, from $40.5 million in the year-ago quarter. At the Los Angeles Times, quarterly ad revenue rose about 4% to $198.5 million, from $190.9 million.
Professional information, which consists of professional book publishing and training operations, posted an operating profit of $30.1 million, a 23.4% decline from $39.3 million in the year-ago period. The company blamed much of the decline on price reductions at its Matthew Bender publishing division.
Consumer multimedia, which includes magazine and consumer book publishing companies as well as new consumer multimedia software and television programming ventures, cut quarterly losses to $1.3 million from $2.3 million. The improved performance of magazine publishing offset start-up costs in new multimedia products, the company said.
