CALIFORNIA: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s parent company, Davenport, Iowa-based Lee Enterprises, on Thursday reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $10.1 million, up 200 percent from the same quarter last year.
Lee posted total operating revenue of $156.1 million in its fiscal fourth quarter, down from $163.2 million in the prior-year quarter.
The company said total advertising and marketing services revenue totaled $97.3 million, down 9 percent from the prior-year period. Most major advertising categories were down significantly, including retail (7.1 percent), classified (13.9 percent) and national (11.7 percent). Niche publications were up 7.6 percent.
Subscription revenue rose 5.4 percent, to $48.6 million.
The company slashed compensation expenses 6.7 percent to $57.4 million, due to reduced staffing, and newsprint and ink expenses fell 28.6 percent, to $6.3 million. It also spent $1.4 million on “workforce adjustments” in the quarter, up from $341,000 in the prior-year quarter.
Lee said digital revenue increased 23.9 percent and now represents 19.9 percent of the company’s total operating revenue. Mobile advertising revenue, which is included in digital advertising, increased 10.6 percent.
“We are very pleased with our fourth quarter results, especially our cash flow growth,” CEO Mary Junck said in a statement. “We continue to see revenue growth in digital advertising, digital services, and subscription revenue from our full access and premium day initiatives as compared to the same quarter of the prior year. These growing revenue categories made up almost 47 percent of our total revenue, for the quarter.”
Lee’s debt totaled $725.9 million as of Sept. 27.
For fiscal 2015, the company increased profit 217 percent to $24.3 million, while revenue fell 1.9 percent to $648.5 million, compared with $660.9 million in 2014.
