Meredith Profits, Revenues Slip; Some Signs Of A Thaw

Better Homes & Gardens (Meredith)

As both magazines and local TV continues to struggle on the ad front, Meredith (NYSE: MDP) Corp.’s profits slipped 1.6 percent, while revenues fell nearly 9 percent. But the company did point to some signs of hope, as two of its leading pubs, Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle had ad revenue gains of 3 percent and 13 percent, respectively, in Q3. (Meredith records its earnings as Q1 of FY2010). Still, in its national media group segment, things were more mixed, as operating profit was $39 million, a 14 percent increase over last year, while revenues dropped 7.5 percent to $272 million. The national media group’s ad revenues fell 5 percent to $137 million. While the company didn’t talk about web-based ad revenues, Meredith claims it generated 855,000 online subscriptions during the quarter.

Earnings release | Webcast (11:00 AM EDT)

2Q 2009 2Q 2008
EPS $0.40 $0.41
Net Income -$18.3M -$18.6M
Revenue $332M $364M

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