Posted on 01/31/2006 12:47:00 PM PST by abb
Music to my ears.
it DOES muddle things if the company does not clearly break out numbers in the EPS press release. Presumably they will in the 10q/k but that might not be filed yet...dunno.
The WSJ's spin on this ongoing mass extinction phenomenon...
By JOSEPH T. HALLINAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
February 1, 2006; Page B3
Knight Ridder Inc., which put itself up for sale in November, said net income fell 22% in the fourth quarter on nearly flat revenue.
The second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher in terms of circulation said net income declined to $83.3 million, or $1.24 a share, from $107.2 million, or $1.38 a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.1% to $819.9 million, including the results from three newspapers it acquired in August.
Knight Ridder shares fell $1.20, or 1.9%, to $62.25 in heavy 4 p.m. composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
"The quarter was a tough one," Tony Ridder, chairman and chief executive, said on a conference call with analysts.
Knight-Ridder's earnings were muddied by swaps and sales of some of its newspapers. On Aug. 29, the company acquired three newspapers in the West in exchange for a newspaper in Tallahassee, Fla., plus cash. It sold its Detroit newspaper operations to Gannett Co.
For its fiscal year ended Dec. 25, Knight Ridder's net income rose to $471.4 million, or $6.52 a share, including $2.87 a share from gains on the transactions involving the Detroit and Tallahassee papers. In 2004, net income was $326.2 million, or $4.13 a share, including 35 cents a share from the reclassification of Detroit and Tallahassee as discontinued operations.
Per-share income from continuing operations during 2005 dropped to $3.53 a share from $3.78.
For the quarter, total advertising revenue rose 3% to $659.1 million. However, auto classified revenue tumbled 17%.
Knight Ridder, of San Jose, Calif., owns 32 daily newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Miami Herald. The company had to put itself up for sale last fall after its largest holder urged it to evaluate strategic alternatives. The company said costs associated with the study totaled four cents a diluted share in the quarter.
The company said online ventures were growing, with revenue at Knight Ridder Digital up 55% for the quarter at $45.5 million. It said it is considering expanding its jointly owned, online help-wanted service, CareerBuilder, to Canada, the United Kingdom and India.
But its print products haven't done so well, continuing to fare worse in big markets than in smaller ones. Total ad revenue in Knight Ridder's top nine markets slipped 1.6% for the quarter; ad revenue in midsize and smaller markets advanced 2.3%. For the year, the company said, ad revenue in large markets edged up 0.4%; in small and midsize markets, it rose 4.3%.
Circulation declined in the quarter, off 4.1% daily and 4.3% Sunday, partly on price increases. For the year, circulation dropped 3.1% daily and 3.3% Sunday.
Write to Joseph T. Hallinan at joe.hallinan@wsj.com
Who said there was only Bad News?? Maybe they should try printing the Truth???
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
check this out...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1569249/posts
In other news...
- Buggy whip makers saw a decline for the 113th straight year following a continued refusal by the public to ride horses
- Monks copying ancient Biblical texts went on strike, calling for regulatory guidelines limiting the printing press
- Whale oil producers convene summit to focus on long-term trend away from their product
- Officials from the Mountain Men of America, one of this country's oldest unions, called for a boycott of what they called "the pernicious spread of railways, roads, and housing into territory formerly the domain of America's mountain men." Jeremiah Johnson IX, president of the MMA, was somewhere in northern Wyoming and unavailable for comment
- Quill pen manufacturers close doors on factories in New Jersey and Ohio, prompting Democrats to decry the state of America's economy and causing large numbers of geese to roam the landscape
...reading.
I agree,my husband and I quit taking the paper when Stan Tiner became editor.What used to be a joke about it being the "Daily Mullet Wrapper",became reality.I can get more news than I can absorb from the Internet.
Stan Tiner!! Is he the Biloxi Sun Herald Editor? That creep used to be the Editor of the now defunct Shreveport (LA) Journal. A real liberal whacko...
That's who. The Sun Herald has been an utter rag since he took over.
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