RH Donnelley Corp. (RHD), a yellow pages and online local commercial search company, Wednesday reported a loss for the second quarter, compared to a profit in the year-ago period, on a goodwill impairment charge. The company also reduced its revenue outlook for 2008.
The Cary, North Carolina-based company reported a second quarter net loss of $338.9 million or $4.93 per share, compared to net income of $24.9 million or $0.34 per share in the previous year.
Results in the latest period reflect a goodwill impairment charge of $660 million, reflecting further decline in the market value of the company's equity securities during the second quarter. Excluding the effect of the goodwill impairment, second quarter net income would have been $89 million.
On average, five analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected earnings of $0.12 per share for the quarter.
Second quarter net revenues slipped to $663.8 million from $667.0 million reported for the same period in the previous year. The Street estimated revenues of $658.05 million.
Ad sales for the quarter were weaker both sequentially and on a year-over-year basis due to deteriorating consumer sentiments and the impact of rising operating costs on small businesses.
Year-to-date, the company reported a net loss of $1.962 billion or $28.51 per share, compared to net income of $40.9 million or $0.57 per share in the year-ago quarter. Net revenues advanced to $1.338 billion from $1.328 billion.
For 2008, the company now expects net revenue of at least $2.6 billion. The previous projection was for net revenue in the range of $2.6 billion-$2.7 billion. Analysts currently expect revenues of $2.63 billion in 2008.
RHD is currently trading at $1.58, down $0.12 or 7.06%, on 3.10 million shares.
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