Education and media company Washington Post Co. (WPO: Quote) reported Friday a profit for the second quarter that grew from last year, reflecting strong operating results at the television broadcasting division, partially offset by lower results at education and newspaper publishing divisions.
Revenues were lower at the education and newspaper publishing divisions, while revenues were up at the television broadcasting and cable television divisions.
Revenue declined 9 percent at the education division to $558 million, as results at Kaplan Higher Education were hurt by 1 percent lower new student enrollments. Total enrollments at the end of the second were down 14 percent from the end of the year-ago quarter.
Newspaper publishing revenues declined 7 percent to $152 million, reflecting a 15 percent decline in print advertising revenue at Washington Post, partially offset by an 8 percent increase in revenue at the company's newspaper online publishing activities. Display online advertising revenue increased 14 percent.
Television broadcasting division's revenues increased 13 percent to $96 million due to overall improved advertising demand across many product categories such as political advertising. Revenues at the cable television climbed 2 percent to $196 million, due to continued growth in high-speed data and telephony subscribers.
Operating revenue for the quarter declined 5 percent to $1.01 billion from $1.06 billion in the same quarter last year.
The Washington, the District of Columbia-based company reported net income of $51.81 million or $6.84 per share for the second quarter, higher than $45.57 million or $5.74 per share in the prior-year quarter. Excluding items, adjusted income grew to $7.74 per share from $6.62 per share from last year.
Kaplan sold EduNeering in April 2012, Kaplan Learning Technologies in February 2012, Kaplan Compliance Solutions in October 2011 and Kaplan Virtual Education in July 2011. All these are included under discontinued operations.
Income from continuing operations declined to $33.97 million or $4.48 per share from $47.59 million or $6.0 per share in the year-ago quarter. Excluding items, adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations was $5.38, down from $6.88 in the prior-year quarter.
The company noted that revenues were lower at the education and newspaper publishing divisions, while revenues increased at the television broadcasting and cable television divisions.
Operating results plunged at the education and newspaper publishing divisions. Cable television division also reported a decline, however, television broadcasting division recorded strong improvements.
In Friday's regular trading session, WPO is currently trading at $331.45, down $0.70 or 0.21% on a volume of 1,831 shares. In the past 52-week period, the stock has been trading in a range of $308.50 to $405.00.
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by RTT Staff Writer
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