UPDATE: E.W. Scripps Posts Downbeat Q2 Results

The E.W. Scripps Company

posted weaker-than-expected second-quarter results. The Cincinnati, Ohio-based company posted a quarterly loss of $3.4 million, or $0.06 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $3.2 million, or $0.05 per share. Acquisition-integration costs and and the charges related to the withdrawal from a multi-employer pension plan lowered per-share earnings by around $0.08 per share in the recent quarter. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.02 per share. Its operating revenue rose 2% to $211.9 million. However, analysts were expecting a profit of $0.12 per share on revenue of $218.22 million. E.W. Scripps posted a quarterly loss from operations before income taxes of $5.5 million, compared to income from operations before income taxes of $3.9 million in the year-ago quarter. The company's television operating revenue climbed 4% to $116 million, while revenue from newspapers fell 1.3% to $92.3 million. Political advertising climbed $4.5 million versus the year-ago quarter, while retransmission fees from cable and satellite providers jumped 21% to $12.7 million. Scripps Chairman, President and CEO Rich Boehne said, "In our television markets, good growth in local, political and digital advertising as well as retransmission revenue more than offset weakness in national advertising. Our digital-only sales force contributed significantly to the nearly 10 percent year-over-year increase in the TV division's digital revenue. More than half of our stations enjoyed digital revenue growth of more than 20 percent year-over-year.” For the full year, the company projects television revenue to rise around 20%, and newspaper revenue and expenses to be down low single digits. E.W. Scripps shares fell 2.11% to close at $21.30 yesterday.