WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Washington Post Co. (WPO) on Friday reported a profit for the first quarter that doubled from last year, reflecting a year-ago writedown that helped offset lower revenues at its namesake newspaper division and education business.
Revenues at the company's newspaper publishing unit declined 8 percent from last year on lower print advertising revenues. Revenue generated by the company's newspaper online publishing activities, primarily washingtonpost.com and Slate, also declined.
Washington Post, like most of its peers, is finding it hard to increase circulation as reader's preference shift over to the digital media.
The education division, which represents about 60 percent of total revenues, continued its dismal performance as in the past few quarters. Revenue declined 11 percent at the unit.
Student enrollments at Kaplan in the quarter were down 18 percent compared to the same period last year, but rose 2 percent compared to the preceding fourth quarter.
The cable television unit's revenue were flat with the prior-year period. However, revenue for the television broadcasting division rose 13 percent, reflecting improved advertising demand across many product categories.
Washington Post's net income for the first quarter was $31.05 million or $4.07 per share, up from $15.15 million or $1.87 per share in the year-ago period.
The latest quarter's results include income from discontinued operations of $20.22 million or $2.70 per share, while the year-ago quarter's results include losses from discontinued operations of $2.75 million or $0.34 per share.
Among one-time items, the year-ago quarter's results include a marketable equity securities write-down of $19.80 million or $2.44 per share.
Excluding items, adjusted net income for the latest quarter declined to $26.91 million or $3.53 per share from $32.27 million or $3.99 per share in the prior-year period.
Income from continuing operations was $10.83 million or $1.37 per share, down from $17.90 million or $2.21 per share in the same period last year.
Operating revenues for the quarter declined 7 percent to $972.48 million from $1.04 billion in the prior-year quarter.
In Friday's regular session, WPO is trading at $376.00, down $0.15 or 0.04 percent.
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