The publisher of the Winnipeg Free Press, Brandon Sun and other Manitoba newspapers delivered higher revenue but lower profit in the first quarter.
FP Newspapers Inc. says its first-quarter profit was down about 20% from the same time last year.
The decline was attributed to a decrease in the Winnipeg-based company’s share of earnings from the FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership.
FP said its net income fell to $800,000 or 11.7 cents per share for the three-month period, down from $1 million or 13.8 cent in the first quarter of 2011.
FP Newspapers said its revenue increased by $2 million to $27 million, with the increase due to an acquired printing business and third-party magazines.
Excluding the impact from the acquisition of Derksen Printers in February 2011, FP’s revenue would have been up by $1 million—an increase of 4.2%.
The financial results were announced ahead of the company’s annual meeting of shareholders.
They were a big improvement from a $13.1-million loss it recorded in the fourth quarter of 2011, as it wrote down the value of its stake in the FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership.
The newspaper publisher took a $15-million hit related to its stake in the partnership due to a continuation of soft advertising revenues and decreasing newspaper industry valuations.
FP said on Tuesday that it expects a further decline in advertising revenue in the second quarter, largely due to reduced spending by large national customers.
