Lee Enterprises second quarter earnings flat after adjusting for one-time insurance boost a year ago

Lee Enterprises – owner of the Quad City Times – reported second quarter earnings Thursday (5/4) of $6.4 million, down 67 percent from the same period a year ago when a one-time insurance settlement added more than $13 million to the company's bottomline.

Net income for the three months ended March 26 was 11 cents per share compared with 36 cents per share for the same period a year ago.

While earnings were flat after adjusting for the boost from insurance proceeds a year ago, operating revenue for the quarter fell more than 9 percent to $133.4 million, advertising and marketing service revenue was down more than 11 percent to $77.5 million and subscription revenues were off 3.5 percent to $45 million.

Operating expenses were down 7.3 percent for the quarter as newsprint volume fell 13 percent and the average number of full-time employees declined to 3,649, down 7.2 percent from a year ago.

"We remain optimistic that fiscal year 2017 will be similar to our strong performance in subscription revenue last year, as we continue to implement our strategy of sound pricing principles, additional premium content revenue, and reduced customer churn, which will have a greater impact in the second half of 2017," Kevin Mowbray, Lee president and chief executive, stated in the earnings news release.

Lee operates publications in 21 states with a total average circulation of 900,000 daily and 1.2 million Sunday. Its major markets are St. Louis, MO, Lincoln, NE, Madison, WI, Davenport, IA, Billings, MT, Bloomington, IL and Tucson, AR.

CLICK HERE to download the company's earnings news release.

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