Lee Enteprises, publisher of the Quad City Times and Muscatine Journal, posted a $1.49 million profit for the second quarter ended March 30 despite a 4 percent drop in revenues compared with the same period last year.
Lee reported Thursday (5/8) earnings of 3 cents per share, $1.49 million, for the quarter, compared with a loss of $6 million, 12 cents a share, for the same period in 2013. Operating revenues for the second quarter totaled $154.1 million, down 4 percent from the $160.6 million in quarterly revenues last year.
"Our business transformation initiatives continue to create efficiencies," Lee Chairman and CEO Mary Junck said in the company's earnings news release, "driving cash costs down almost 6 percent in the quarter and creating an increase in operating cash flow over the prior year."
An 8 percent decline in the number of full-time employees, from 4,770 at the end of March 2013 to 4,486 at the end of March this year, helped lower the company's cash costs, along with a 13 percent drop in newsprint and ink expenses.
The company said its digital revenue (advertising, marketing services, subscriptions and digital businesses) totaled $20.5 million for the quarter, an increase of more than 13 percent from the same quarter last year.
Junck said Lee launched a "full access subscription model" during the quarter in two of its markets and the company plans to expand the subscription plan to more than half of its 46 markets by the end of the year. The full access model was added at the company's largest market, St. Louis, in April.
Under the subscription plan in St. Louis, reader can get home delivery of the newspaper Monday through Sunday and full access to the newspaper's online web site for $29.50 per month. For home delivery of the paper Friday, Saturday and Sunday, plus full digital access, subscribers pay $19.50 per month. And, for Sunday delivery of the newspaper, plus full digital access, subscribers pay $13.50 a month. Full access to the newspaper's web site only costs $13.50 per month.
CLICK HERE to download the company's 2nd quarter earnings report.
