CEO Steve Smith upbeat about Journal performance
...and the stock price reflected it yesterday. While experiencing a 29.5% drop in Q1 net earnings from Q1 '05, Journal Communications Chairman and CEO Steve Smith was upbeat about Journal's performance and moving forward: "We were pleased with the achievements of our broadcast group in the first quarter of 2006. A significant increase in operating earnings in television was driven by a particularly strong performance at our three news stations; excellent Olympics revenues and a solid start to the year in Las Vegas. Further, despite a 3.5% decrease in radio revenue, strong cost controls resulted in a flat earnings performance in the quarter. Our three new television stations exceeded expectations for both revenue and operations earnings. We attribute this success to three things-First, the intense planning of our transition team; the strong people we have in place; and our focus on sales and improving our news products."
Smith mentioned the Las Vegas TV station revenue was up 23.5% for the quarter, and operating earnings increased 127%. On a same station basis, Smith said they were negatively impacted by continued softness in NBC Prime. "But we did record strong Olympics revenue of 3.3M. We are also pleased about the performance in Green Bay. Revenue was up 28% and operating earnings were 15 times higher than last year's first quarter. This reflects strong local revenue with increased news ratings as well as Olympics advertising."
In late February, Journal's Milwaukee NBC affiliate teamed up with Time Warner Cable for a 24 hour weather channel, 'Today's TMJ 4 Weather Plus.' It runs on cable, DTV, online and on demand.
For radio, says Smith, "We were coming off of tough comparisons in 2005, where revenues had increased 9% from 2004. Our developmental clusters in Knoxville, Boise and Springfield were solid performers in Q1 and we continue to focus on cost control, with overall radio expenses in Q1 down 4.5%."
"The daily newspaper posted a disappointing February and March as overall classified and automobile advertising in particular was challenging despite a small increase in the retail category. Expense control and the expansion of online products are a continuing focus of the Journal Sentinel," Smith said.
Telecommunications revenue declined about 12% to 32.8M due to lower prices and service disconnections. Printing services revenue slipped 11% to 16.3M due to decline in revenue from Dell Computer.
The company authorized the repurchase of up to 5M additional shares of its stock over the next 19 months. During the first-quarter, Journal bought back 836,730 shares.
Good Morning - Gain a personal edge on today's business day. Are you reading this from a forwarded email?
