Times Mirror Profit Up 44%; Newsprint Costs Could Slow Growth

Times Mirror Co. on Thursday reported a nearly 44% jump in second-quarter net income, but warned that anticipated increases in newsprint prices could dampen earnings growth for the rest of the year.

The Los Angeles-based news and information company, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, posted net income of $66 million, or 58 cents a share, for the three months ended June 30, up from $46 million, or 33 cents a share, for the same period of 1996.

Per-share earnings were up more than 75%, aided by a share repurchase program that left Times Mirror with 95.7 million common shares on June 30, compared with 105.2 million common shares on the same date last year.

Revenue for the second quarter slipped to $811.8 million from $837.3 million because of divestitures of some of Times Mirror’s professional information operations.

“Second-quarter results reflect continued strength in the newspaper publishing segment with all our newspapers reporting solid increases in advertising revenues and lower newsprint pricing,” said Mark H. Willes, Times Mirror chairman, president and chief executive officer.

“In the second half of 1997, we expect our rate of earnings growth to slow somewhat because we anticipate that newsprint prices will rise and we will continue to incur consolidation expenses in our professional information segment,” Willes said.

Times Mirror stock closed at $55 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, down $2.19.

Times Mirror’s improved financial results are the payoff from two years of cost-cutting and an improved economy that is boosting advertising at the company’s newspapers, said Peter P. Appert, an analyst in San Francisco with Alex. Brown & Sons investment firm.