Three of America's largest newspaper publishers – Dow Jones, E W Scripps and Knight Ridder – warned of a continuing drought in advertising revenues. All expressed caution about their full-year outlook as they reported Q3 figures.
Said the publisher of The Wall Street Journal: "Our results were negatively affected by very weak technology advertising, which led to a 6% decline in ad linage [at the WSJ] in the quarter, after four consecutive quarterly gains."
Operating income rose 21.5% to $20.4 million (€16.35m; £11.3m), driven by stronger revenues and profits at its electronic publishing operations and community newspapers. Total revenues were up 5% at $394.9m.
The newspaper and broadcast group said newspaper advertising was expected to rise by "low single digits" in the fourth quarter.
Q3 advertising performance had been held back by Florida's hurricanes, which reduced quarterly net income to $55.6 million (€44.56m; £30.81m), down on expectations by $3.7 million.
The group enjoyed a "modest" increase in advertising sales in the three months to September 30. Net income was up 11.2% at $76.9 million (€61.63m; £42.61m), while advertising sales for the quarter increased 3.2% to $562.9m.
Data sourced from Financial Times Online; additional content by WARC staff
