One of the leading US newspaper publishers, The New York Times Company, is warning of a dip in earnings for the year end.
The group, whose flagship publication is the New York Times and which also owns the Boston Globe, says full-year profits will come in at $1.98 (€1.62, £1.10) per share in contrast to analysts' expectations of $2.02.
The company says trading so far this month "has failed to demonstrate the kind of consistent revenue growth we had been looking for as we reach the fall".
Shares fell 60 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $40.20 on the New York Stock Exchange after earlier falling as low as $39.95, the lowest level since July 2002.
However, the company is not alone in the depressed advertising market. Dow Jones, owners of the Wall Street Journal, recently cut its profits forecast and fanfared a new weekend edition with which they hope to attract consumer lifestyle advertising from September next year [WAMN: 17-Sep-04].
And the Florida hurricanes have taken their toll on ad revenues at local newspapers owned by Knight Ridder, which also says quarterly earnings will miss targets.
Data sourced from: Financial Times; additional content by WARC staff
