ProJo parent reports 3Q loss

A.H. Belo Corp. reported Tuesday a loss of $135,000 in the third quarter and circulation revenue decreases at The Providence Journal. / COURTESY PROJO
A.H. Belo Corp. reported Tuesday a loss of $135,000 in the third quarter and circulation revenue decreases at The Providence Journal. / COURTESY PROJO

DALLAS – A.H. Belo Corp. reported a loss of $135,000 in the third quarter on Tuesday, including declines in advertising and circulation revenue at The Providence Journal.

A.H. Belo, which also owns The Dallas Morning News and The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., lost 1 cent per diluted share – which included $1.2 million in severance and “related” expenses.

In the 2010 third quarter, the company reported a profit of $4.57 million, or 20 cents per diluted share.

Total net operating revenue for the three months ended Sept. 30 also fell to $109.99 million from $119.13 million a year earlier.

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Robert W. Decherd, chairman, president and CEO, attributed the 7.7 percent decline to “inconsistent advertising trends throughout the quarter.”

“We’ve taken additional steps to align expenses with lower revenue expectations for the remainder of the year and 2012,” he added.

Circulation revenue declined 0.5 percent to $34.7 million as a 1.4 percent rate-driven increase at The Dallas Morning News was offset by decreases at The Press Enterprise and The Providence Journal, the company said.

Advertising revenue had a larger decline of 12.3 percent, but with the smallest percentage decrease at The Providence Journal, followed by The Dallas Morning News and The Press-Enterprise.

Printing and distribution revenue increased 2 percent to $10 million. Newsprint expense was $10.3 million, an increase of 1.3 percent over the last year; newsprint consumption dropped 7 percent to 16,000 metric tons.

For the nine months, A.H. Belo widened its loss to $13.68 million, or 64 cents per diluted share, from $4.73 million, or 23 cents per diluted share, in 2010. Revenue declined to $336.65 million, from $356.46 million in the same 2010 period.

As of Sept. 30, the company had 2,200 full time equivalent employees, down 10.8 percent from a year ago. It had $46 million of cash and cash equivalents on hand and no outstanding borrowings, A.H. Belo said.

Separately, the Audit Bureau of Circulations said The Providence Journal had a daily circulation of 90,085 and a Sunday circulation of 129,024, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

The figures cannot be compared to prior reporting periods because the bureau used a new methodology. Comparable periods will begin again in the March 2012 report.

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