News Corp NWS reported declines in profit and revenue for its latest quarter in the face of a sluggish economy in Australia, softness in its book-publishing unit and foreign-currency headwinds, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The New York-based media company, owner of The Wall Street Journal and HarperCollins Publishers, said net income for its fiscal second quarter was $85 million, or 14 cents a share, down 11% from $95 million, or 16 cents a share, in the year-earlier period.
Revenue fell 5.6% to $2.48 billion for the quarter, which ended Dec. 31. Analysts polled by Factset expected earnings of 14 cents a share on revenue of $2.52 billion. Excluding impairment and restructuring charges, the company reported adjusted earnings per share of 18 cents.
“We expect improvement in the second half as real-estate markets show signs of gradual recovery, Dow Jones benefits from new content licensing arrangements and higher digital subscribers, and HarperCollins capitalizes on an exciting slate of new releases,” Chief Executive Robert Thomson said in a statement.
Advertising revenue for the news unit declined 5%, while circulation and subscription revenue rose 3% overall. At Journal parent Dow Jones, circulation revenue rose 5%, boosted in part by a 17% year-over-year increase in digital subscribers, as well as subscription price increases.
The Journal added 75,000 digital subscribers from the end of the previous quarter, bringing its total to 1.929 million. That was more than double the 36,000 new subscribers added in the previous quarter. Journal print subscriptions rose by 8,000 to 772,000 as of the end of December, bringing the total number of Journal subscribers to 2.7 million.
Advertising revenue at Dow Jones fell 5% on the year, the company said.
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