Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE) appeared to make some progress in the quarter ending March 29, but as the publisher indicated at its annual meeting in March, the advertising results were and remain “grim and lousy.”
The owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch managed to slim its net loss to $51.7 million ($1.16 per share) from $713 million ($15.90 per share) in the same quarter last year. Impairment charges of $154.8 million, with financing charges of $12.9 million, were offset by a $58.1 million gain from a “reversal of a liability” of $71.3 million in March 2008.
But there were no reversals on the ad front. Total revenue was down 19.7 percent from to $198.8 million. Combined print and online advertising revenue dropped 24 percent to $141.5 million, as online ad revs fell 26.5 percent. Although retail ads were up 12.2 percent on its newspaper websites, the segment was pulled down by online classified advertising, which slid 44.8 percent. Earnings release
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