Tribune Earnings Decline by 21%

Tribune Co., publisher of the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers and owner of 22 television stations, said Wednesday that first-quarter earnings fell 21% because of a decline in advertising sales.

Profit from continuing operations fell to $65 million, or 19 cents a share, from $82.7 million, or 31 cents, in the year-ago quarter. Sales rose 79% to $1.29 billion, reflecting last year’s acquisition of Times Mirror Co. That purchase reduced per-share results by 6 cents, the company said, because of the additional shares outstanding.

Last month, Chicago-based Tribune warned that its first-quarter earnings would be in a range of 18 cents to 20 cents. At the time, the Wall Street consensus estimate was 25 cents.

Tribune said it expects to earn 30 cents a share in the second quarter. The company was expected to earn 40 cents, based on the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial.

Its stock rose $1.71 to close at $41.89 on the New York Stock Exchange on a day of broad market gains.