Directories publisher Yellow Media posted a $2.8 billion loss on Thursday for the third quarter as it logged a near $3-billion writedown related to the sale of Trader Corp.
The publisher of the Yellow Pages phonebook said that after filtering out the charge, it earned $74.6 million from its continuing operations, or 14 cents per share. That’s an increase from $65.6 million, or 12 cents per share, for the same period in 2010.
Adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations were seven cents, well below average analyst estimates of 18 cents per share, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters, and also down from 19 cents in the same quarter last year.
Yellow Media has been struggling in recent quarters as it tries to reposition itself primarily as an internet company. Earlier this year, the company said it would stop paying dividends to improve its financial position.
The company reduced its debt by about $700 million in the three month period. It also disclosed the $2.9-billion writedown booked in the quarter for Trader Corp., home of AutoTrader magazine.
Trader was formed in June 2006 with the integration of Classified Media (Canada) Holdings and Trader Media Corp. and was purchased for a total of $1.2 billion.
Yellow Media said quarterly revenues decreased 9.1% to $323.4 million from $355.9 million due to lower print revenues as well as lower revenues associated with Canpages and its U.S. operations.
Online revenues, however, for the third quarter of 2011 were $87.3 million or about $350 million on an annualized basis. Online revenues now represent more than 27% of total revenues compared with 20% in the third quarter of 2010.
As well as publishing print and online directories, Yellow Media builds websites for small and medium-sized businesses and provides such services as email marketing and video production.
The company has said it’s uncertain if or when its new services will offset declining print revenues and lower margins from recent business acquisitions.
