Times Mirror Earnings Climb Sharply in 1994 : Media: Parent of the Los Angeles Times says it will focus on its publishing units in the wake of cable sale.

Times Mirror Co. on Thursday reported sharply higher income in 1994 from continuing operations and said it will go forward almost exclusively as an information provider, with a growth strategy that heavily emphasizes investment in its professional publishing and consumer magazine, book and multimedia businesses.

For the year, the company said income from continuing operations rose to $126.2 million, or 98 cents per share, from $51.7 million, or 40 cents per share, in 1993. Total net income came to $173.1 million, or $1.35 per share, down from $317.2 million, or $2.46 per share, in 1993. For both years, the net income figures reflect earnings from cable television operations that Times Mirror finished divesting this week; the 1993 figures reflect proceeds from the sale of the company’s broadcast television operations.

The company, which owns the Los Angeles Times, said its new strategy may reduce earnings in 1995 by up to $40 million, a disclosure that helped drive Times Mirror stock down more than 13%. The company’s shares fell $3.125 to close at $20.25 in New York Stock Exchange trading Thursday.

Times Mirror said it will record a $1.6-billion gain in the first quarter of 1995 from the $2.3-billion merger of the company’s cable television operations into Cox Communications. The merger was completed Wednesday.

Robert F. Erburu, Times Mirror chairman, president and chief executive, said that transaction leaves Times Mirror with about $600 million in cash, only $250 million in long-term debt and an enhanced ability to borrow for strategic investments.

Assuming continued economic growth, Erburu said, revenue will grow at a faster rate in 1995 than 1994’s 3.5% overall increase, due to the ongoing recovery of Times Mirror’s newspapers and expected strong sales growth in professional publishing.

But he cautioned that much of the revenue growth will be offset by sharply higher prices for newsprint and an overall increase in paper and postage costs.

Erburu also said that the first quarter, traditionally the company’s least profitable, will show a decline in income from continuing operations this year due to deeper seasonal losses in professional publishing and cost pressure on the newspaper group.

Also Thursday, Times Mirror disclosed its fourth-quarter 1994 earnings. Income from continuing operations in the fourth quarter fell to $46.9 million, or 36 cents per share, from $50.2 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier. (The 1993 figure does not include a restructuring charge of $45.8 million, equal to 35 cents per share.)

The decline was mostly due to a change in effective tax rates, the company said, and came despite improved advertising revenue at Times Mirror’s newspapers, which include The Times, Newsday, New York Newsday, the Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant.

In an interview, Erburu noted that the company has now completed the sale of assets that were not related to the company’s focus on information “content,” as opposed to the means of transmitting information. Times Mirror has exited the cable and broadcast television businesses, with the exception of television programming, and earlier left the newsprint and forest products business.

Most of the company’s new investment will be channeled to professional publishing, including efforts to expand in the Pacific Rim and Europe, partly through acquisitions, the company said.

About a quarter to a third of Times Mirror’s new investment will be in its consumer media segment, with a lesser amount going to newspaper publishing to develop innovative electronic news, advertising and shopping service businesses.