Mr Rupert Murdoch's News Corp posted a 28 per cent rise in quarterly profit as strong results in newspapers, broadcast and cable television countered weaker performances in its film and Italian pay-TV divisions.
News Corp, which is moving its headquarters and main listing to the United States from Australia, reported a fiscal first-quarter net profit of $536 million compared with $422 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenues rose 12 per cent to $5.2 billion.
News Corp. owns the Fox network, 20th Century Fox film studios and a host of newspaper and satellite assets including BSkyB and DirecTV.
Separately, Fox Entertainment posted a drop in quarterly profit, as expenses related to last year's purchase of satellite television company DirecTV offset cable and television network gains.
Due to its transition to the United States, both ordinary and preferred shares ceased trading in their current form on the Australian Stock Exchange at the close last night, causing a last-minute rally of 5 per cent in Australia.
News Corp said it stood by full-year growth forecasts in the mid- to high-teen per cent age range, but it cautioned that US television advertising revenue was below expectations so far in the year to June 2005.
Operating income at News Corp's film division fell to $285 million from $328 million, while the television unit's operating income rose to $233 million from $179 million.
Cable network programming division profit rose to $196 million from $133 million, partly due to the absence of losses from the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, sold in fiscal 2004.