Earnings: AH Belo's Online Revs Declined 19 Percent
This story was written by David Kaplan.
Until Q2, newspaper companies could count on their internet units as a bright spot as print revenues showed continual decline. But as it experienced last quarter, AH Belo (NYSE: AHC) (NYSE: BLC), the newspaper half of the old Belo Corp., saw its online drop again in Q3 as internet ad dollars fell 19 percent to $11.4 million. Online's share of AH Belo, publisher of the Dallas Morning-News and two other papers, is now 7.4 percent of the publisher's total revenues.
Overall, AH Belo posted $153.8 million in revenuesa 15 percent declineand a net loss of $17.3 million ($0.84 per share) in Q3. The loss was attributed to $11.1 million in expenses related to staff buyouts. Ad revenue, including print and online, was down 22 percent, mostly due to classifieds, a sore spot at most newspapers these days. Circulation revenue, something that's been commonly in decline across most newspapers recently, actually grew in Q3, as AH Belo said circ was up 12 percent.
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By David Kaplan