Lee Enterprises (owner of the Quad City Times) managed to post a $46 million profit in fiscal 2010, despite a 7 percent decline in yearly revenue and a 9 percent decrease in advertising revenue.
For the fiscal year ended Sept. 26, Lee reported earnings per share of $1.03, compared to a loss of $2.77 per share ($123 million) in fiscal 2009.
The positive earnings despite lower revenues were possible because operating expenses were down 10 percent, compensation down 7 percent and newsprint and ink costs decreased nearly 25 percent.
Full-time equivalent employment at Lee's 49 daily newspapers and other specialty publications has been reduced by 8.2 percent (554 positions) over the past 12 months to 6,164 as of the end of September.
CLICK HERE to download the full fourth quarter and fiscal 2010 company financials.
Overall, newspaper circulation at the company's properties continued to decline. Its daily circulation at the end of September was down 4 percent and Sunday circulation off 5 percent compared to circulation averages for the six months ended March 31.
At the Quad City Times, the average weekday circulation (Monday through Friday) has fallen below 50,000 for the first time to 47,166 at the end of September, a drop of 8 percent from the 51,035 average circulation for the six months ended March 31.
For the Saturday edition, the Times average circulation was 50,539 for the six months ended September 30, down 4 percent from 52,567 average for the six months ended March 31.
Sunday's Times circulation also declined 4 percent from an average of 64,932 at the end of March to an average of 62,321 for the six-month period ended September 30.
The declines echo industry trends as average weekday newspaper circulation dropped 5 percent among the nation's 635 daily newspapers using that same cumulative average for the periods ended March 31 and September 30.
