Glacier Media Inc. reported Thursday a sharp drop in quarterly profit, hit by the slow down in the economy.
The Vancouver-based publisher said it earned $2.4 million for the three months ended March 31 compared with a profit of $8 million a year ago. Revenue for the quarter was $54.8 million, down from $58.8 million.
Despite the drop, Glacier said local advertising revenue held up relatively well for most of its local newspapers.
“While the severity of the recession has clearly had a significant impact on advertising revenues, the diversification of Glacier’s businesses resulted in better revenue performance than a number of other media companies in Canada and the United States,” the company said in a statement.
During the first quarter, the company said significant additional cost cuts were made including staff layoffs, reduction in hours for part-time employees, reduction in newsprint consumption and a wide variety of other measures.
