Providence Journal’s Parent Company A.H. Belo Suffers More Losses
Monday, April 30, 2012
The Providence Journal's parent company (A.H. Belo Corp) took another hit with a first quarter of 2012 loss of $0.18 per share. Print and digital revenues were down 12%. The company also unveiled that they had decreased 14% of their staff in the past 12 months.
The first quarter 2012 net loss includes gains totaling $0.5 million from the Company's disposition of certain real estate assets in Dallas.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) was $5.1 million in the first quarter of 2012, an increase of 82 percent compared to the first quarter of 2011. When pension expense is added back to EBITDA (“Adjusted EBITDA”) in both periods, Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter was $6.1 million, an increase of 36 percent compared to the prior year period.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRobert W. Decherd, chairman, president and Chief Executive Officer was upbeat, he said, “First quarter Adjusted EBITDA performance exceeded our internal expectations by a large margin due to expense containment. 508 Digital, our new digital business focused on small and medium businesses in Dallas, completed its first round of sales training at the end of March and launched sales teams into the market. We are pleased with the startup guidance provided by our partner, Hearst Corporation, and the early financial results. Our second wave of sales teams is now on the field.”
First Quarter Results
Total revenue was $104.8 million in the first quarter of 2012, a decrease of 7 percent compared to the prior year period. Excluding the impact of advertising related to the Super Bowl in Dallas during the first quarter of 2011, total revenue decreased 5 percent in the first quarter of 2012.
According to the A.H. Belo release:
Advertising revenue, including print and digital revenues, decreased 12 percent – with the smallest percentage decrease at The Providence Journal followed by The Press-Enterprise and The Dallas Morning News. Excluding the impact of advertising related to the Super Bowl, advertising revenue, including print and digital revenues, decreased 10 percent – with the smallest percentage decrease at The Dallas Morning News followed by The Providence Journal and The Press-Enterprise. Display advertising revenue decreased 18 percent to $19.4 million, and preprint revenue decreased 6 percent to $18.9 million. Classified revenue decreased 10 percent to $13.9 million. As expected, digital revenue decreased 11 percent to $7.8 million.
In the third quarter of 2011, The Morning News dstopped printing their niche publication Quick.
Circulation revenue decreased 1% to $34.7 million in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the prior year period. The company saved nearly $1 million circulation costs resulting from The Providence Journal’s transition from a carrier to a distributor circulation model in 2011, total circulation revenue decreased 4 percent to $33.8 million.
Printing and distribution revenue increased 10 percent to $10.1 million in the first quarter of 2012 due primarily to new contracts at The Providence Journal.
A.H. Belo's newsprint expense in the first quarter was $9.5 million, a decrease of 12% compared to the prior year period because they printed 11% less papers.
At the end of the 1st Quarter of 2012, A. H. Belo had approximately 2,000 full-time equivalent employees, a decrease of approximately 14% compared to the prior year period.
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