Washington Post Co. (WPO) Friday reported a plunge in profit for the first quarter, hurt mainly by restructuring charges and weak performance at the education and newspaper division. A loss from discontinued operations also impacted the bottom line.
Nevertheless, Washington Post reported a slight increase in revenues, due mainly to better results from cable and television broadcasting segments.
Television broadcasting division revenues increased 5 percent to $85.3 million, reflecting increase in advertising demand. Revenues at the cable television also grew 5 percent to $200.1 million, helped by rate increases.
Meanwhile, newspaper publishing revenues declined 4 percent to $127.3 million, reflecting an eight percent decline in print advertising revenue at the namesake newspaper. Revenue generated by online publishing activities, primarily washingtonpost.com and Slate, increased 8 percent to $25.8 million, while display online advertising revenue increased 16 percent.
Education division revenues slipped 3 percent to $527.8 million, but the company was able to narrow the division's operating loss to $4.1 million from $11.9 million last year.
Washington Post's profit for the first quarter dropped to $4.7 million or $0.64 per share from $31.0 million or $4.07 per share for the first quarter last year.
Net income for the quarter includes loss from discontinued operations of $1.4 million compared to income from discontinued operations of $17.6 million last year.
The company recorded restructuring charges of about $25.3 million and foreign currency losses of $4.6 million in the quarter.
Excluding special items, income from continuing operations rose to $25.2 million or $3.46 per share from $9.3 million or $1.18 per share last year.
Revenues for the first quarter inched up to $959.1 million from $955.5 million last year.
WPO is currently trading at $449.41, down $3.10 or 0.69%, on the NYSE.
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