The company’s TV group, of course, has little to do with that, having posted a 4.4% revenue increase in Q3 as revenue for the entire company declined 6.4% and net income was off 13.7%. If you’ve followed Wall Street headlines at all, you’re probably not surprised to learn that revenues fell 14.2% for McGraw-Hill’s Financial Services sector, with US revenues for S&P Credit Market Services down 33% for the quarter. Earnings per share for Q3 were $1.23, down from $1.34 a year ago. For all of 2008, McGraw-Hill is now expecting EPS of $2.63-2.65, down from previous guidance of $2.65-2.75.
CEO Terry McGraw noted that McGraw-Hill has thus far eliminated 1,275 positions companywide and is continuing to watch costs closely.
While Financial Services and Education both posted revenue declines, the much smaller Information & Media segment of the company saw Q3 revenues rise 5.3% to $265.7 million. Operating profit rose 22.6% to $22.8 million, including a $13.9 million restructuring charge for reducing headcount by 140 positions and a $12.4 million decline in incentive compensation.
Within that, broadcasting revenues rose 4.4% to $25 million, as increased political advertising offset weakness in national and local business.
Asked about interest in media acquisitions or divestitures, McGraw said “in these kind of environments, every aspect of the portfolio is under scrutiny.” There had been talk that McGraw-Hill was looking at the business publishing assets that Reed Elsevier has on the market. “We look at everything. We’re not interested in anything at this point that’s advertising related. We were looking primarily at the construction and the energy assets,” the CEO said.
