Wednesday, communications company Media General, Inc. (MEG), reported a loss for the third quarter compared with a profit last year, impacted by a significant charge related to goodwill and other asset impairment .
Media General's net loss for the third quarter was $62.46 million or $2.80 per share, compared with net income of $6.15 million or $0.27 per share a year earlier.
Two analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.09 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Results for the quarter included a goodwill and other asset impairment charge of $84.2 million pretax, including $66 million of goodwill and $18 million of FCC licenses, network affiliation agreements, and certain publishing licenses.
Quarterly revenues dropped to $158.01 million from $192.94 million for the year-ago period.
Analysts had a revenue estimate of $163.05 million for the third quarter.
Revenue of the company's largest segment publishing dropped to $84.10 million from $103.20 million a year earlier and broadcast segment revenue declined to $63.37 million from $79.41 million for the same period last year.
However, revenue from digital media segment and other revenue rose modestly to $10.54 million from $10.33 million for the year-ago period, reflecting an increase in revenues from new online-only sales initiatives.
Marshall Morton, president and chief executive officer said, "Nonetheless, the advertising environment in the third quarter remained challenging, and we experienced lower Classified, Local and National revenues overall. On the other hand, newspaper circulation revenues increased 11 percent as a result of rate increases, and renewed emphasis on subscription sales after Labor Day is yielding encouraging results."
Total operating costs rose to $225.69 million from $175.10 million for the year earlier period, reflecting the $84.2 million charge.
For the nine months, the company's net loss narrowed to $63.13 million or $2.84 per share from $546.32 million or $24.75 per share a year-ago. Revenues dropped to $480.53 million from $591.18 million for the same period last year.
Looking forward, Morton said, "As we enter the fourth quarter, we are seeing signs of strengthening in advertiser spending."
MEG is currently trading up 1.50% or $0.16 at $11.16 on volumes of on 541.33 thousand on NYSE.
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