Newspaper publisher Knight Ridder today posted a big jump in first-quarter earnings that was largely due to a major charge taken a year earlier.
Excluding the previous year's write-down on its investment in CareerBuilder, however, the newspaper chain's earnings would have slid 2 per cent as advertising revenue was restrained by the war in Iraq and circulation revenue fell.
Looking ahead to the second quarter, the company said the war makes the advertising environment uncertain and it expects earnings per share in the low to mid 90 cents range, compared with 90 cents per share the year before.
Analysts, on average, are looking for it to earn 96 cents per share, according to research firm Thomson First Call.
Knight Ridder, which publishes 31 daily newspapers including the Miami Herald, said earnings rose to $50.7 million, or 62 cents per share, in the first quarter from $27.5 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts polled by First Call were looking for quarterly earnings of 62 cents a share, with estimates ranging from 61 cents to 63 cents per share.