PTZ Pulitzer

Pulitzer Inc. Reports Eleventh-Period Revenue for Four Weeks Ended November 30, 2003 ST. LOUIS, Dec. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pulitzer Inc. today announced that revenues increased 6.0 percent for the four-week accounting period ended November 30, 2003 and increased 1.2 percent for the 48-week year-to-date period when compared to the respective 2002 periods. November 2003 advertising revenue in St. Louis and at the 12 Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc. ("PNI") markets increased 6.9 percent versus last year, with increases of 7.9 percent at the combined St. Louis operations and 4.3 percent at PNI. On a comparable basis, excluding the results of 2003 PNI acquisitions absent in 2002, total revenue increased 5.3 percent for the four-week period ended November 30, 2003 and increased 0.9 percent for the 48-week year-to-date period. Total comparable advertising revenue increased 6.1 percent for the four-week period ended November 30, 2003 and increased 1.6 percent for the 48-week year-to-date period. November 2003 comparable advertising revenue increased 7.9 percent at the combined St. Louis operations and 1.5 percent at PNI. Comparable advertising revenue increased 1.8 percent at the combined St. Louis operations and 1.0 percent at PNI for the 48-week year-to-date period. The principal components of the eleventh-period comparable advertising revenue results were: -- Comparable retail advertising revenue, including preprints, increased 9.8 percent. Comparable retail ROP revenue increased 8.6 percent, principally due to strength in the entertainment, home improvement, grocery, and electronics categories, as well as gains in local territory revenue, which increased 24.9 percent in St. Louis, partially offset by weakness in the department store and furniture segments. Comparable St. Louis and PNI retail ROP revenue increased 14.6 percent and decreased 3.0 percent, respectively. Comparable total retail preprint revenue increased 15.5 percent in St. Louis and 4.9 percent at PNI. -- Comparable national advertising revenues, including preprints, decreased 6.0 percent versus the comparable 2002 period principally due to weakness in the telecommunications category. This decrease was partially offset by strength in national preprint revenue, which increased 64.9 percent for the period. Comparable national ROP revenue decreased 12.3 percent. -- Comparable classified revenue increased 3.4 percent from last year due to increases in help wanted and real estate revenue in St. Louis and at PNI. November 2003 comparable help wanted revenue increased 4.4 percent in St. Louis and 0.8 percent at PNI. Comparable automotive revenue decreased 8.7 percent in St. Louis and 2.0 percent at PNI. Comparable November real estate revenue increased 15.6 percent in St. Louis and 14.3 percent at PNI. November 2003 revenue associated with the Company's 50 percent interest in the Tucson Newspaper Agency ("TNI") decreased 0.6 percent and total advertising revenue decreased 1.9 percent. TNI retail revenue, including preprints, decreased 3.7 percent with a 3.7 percent decrease in both retail preprints and ROP revenue. TNI national revenue, including preprints, decreased 24.4 percent, principally due to weakness in the pharmaceutical and entertainment categories. November classified revenue increased 4.8 percent, with help wanted and real estate revenue showing increases of 25.7 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, partially offset by declines in automotive revenue of 10.3 percent. Earnings Guidance (see Notes) Based on its performance during the first part of the fourth quarter, the Company has increased confidence in producing 2003 base earnings per diluted share of at least $1.95. Pulitzer Inc., through various subsidiaries and affiliated entities, is engaged in newspaper publishing and related new media activities. The Company's newspaper operations include two major metropolitan dailies, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, Arizona, and 12 other dailies: The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill.; The Daily Herald, Provo, Utah; the Santa Maria Times, Santa Maria, Calif.; The Napa Valley Register, Napa, Calif.; The World, Coos Bay, Ore.; The Sentinel, Hanford, Calif.; the Arizona Daily Sun, Flagstaff, Ariz.; the Daily Chronicle, DeKalb, Ill.; The Garden Island, Lihue, Hawaii; the Daily Journal, Park Hills, Mo.; The Lompoc Record, Lompoc, Calif.; and The Daily News, Rhinelander, Wisc. The Company's newspaper operations also include the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, a group of 37 weekly papers and various niche publications. The Company's new media and interactive initiatives include STLtoday.com in St. Louis, azstarnet.com in Tucson, and Web sites for all of its other dailies. Pulitzer Inc. is the successor to the company originally founded by Joseph Pulitzer in St. Louis in 1878. For further information, visit our Web site at http://www.pulitzerinc.com/. NOTES: Statements in this press release concerning the Company's business outlook or future economic performance, anticipated profitability, revenues, expenses or other financial items, together with other statements that are not historical facts, are "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in such statements. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, industry cyclicality, the seasonal nature of the business, changes in pricing or other actions by competitors or suppliers (including newsprint), outcome of labor negotiations, capital or similar requirements, and general economic conditions, any of which may impact advertising and circulation revenues and various types of expenses, as well as other risks detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in "forward-looking statements" are reasonable, it cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such "forward-looking statements," and the Company disclaims any obligation to update the information contained herein or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to such "forward-looking statements" to reflect future events or developments. The Company's calculation of "Base Earnings" and "Base Earnings per Diluted Share," including guidance contained herein for full-year 2003 base earnings per diluted share, exclude gains and losses related to certain non-operating investments that are not a strategic component of the Company's capital structure or operating plans (principally, investments in new media companies and partnerships making similar investments), and employment termination inducements associated with positions that will not be staffed. Gains or losses on the sale of marketable securities reflect activity in a strategic component of the Company's capital structure and are, therefore, included in the determination of "Base Earnings," and "Base Earnings per Diluted Share." The Company can not currently determine full-year 2003 investment gains and losses, if any, related to certain non-operating investments or future employment termination inducements, if any. The Company's calculation of "Base Earnings" and "Base Earnings per Diluted Share," including guidance contained herein for full-year 2003 base earnings per diluted share, may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies. "Base Earnings" and "Base Earnings per Diluted Share," as defined above, are not measures of performance under generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and should not be construed as substitutes for consolidated net income and diluted earnings per share as a measure of performance. However, management uses "Base Earnings" and "Base Earnings per Diluted Share" for comparing the Company's past, current, and future performance and believes that they provide meaningful and comparable information to investors to aid in their analysis of the Company's performance relative to other periods and to its peers. PULITZER INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES PERIOD REVENUE AND STATISTICAL REPORT (Revenue in thousands -- Unaudited) Four Four 48 48 Weeks Weeks Weeks Weeks Ended Ended Ended Ended Nov. 30, Dec. 1, Nov. 30, Dec. 1, 2003 2002 Change 2003 2002 Change (Note 4) (Note 4) Consolidated Operating Revenues (Note 1): Advertising: Retail $11,342 $10,366 9.4% $108,675 $108,136 0.5% National 2,413 2,751 (12.3%) 26,362 24,183 9.0% Classified 8,961 8,560 4.7% 114,892 118,567 (3.1%) Total 22,716 21,677 4.8% 249,929 250,886 (0.4%) Preprints 6,696 5,831 14.8% 57,001 50,302 13.3% Total Advertising 29,412 27,508 6.9% 306,930 301,188 1.9% Circulation 6,296 6,175 2.0% 74,329 74,480 (0.2%) Other 622 582 6.9% 6,430 7,439 (13.6%) Total $36,330 $34,265 6.0% $387,689 $383,107 1.2% Operating Revenues of Consolidated Subsidiaries: Combined St. Louis Operations (Note 2): Advertising (Note 3): $21,324 $19,757 7.9% $221,962 $217,971 1.8% Circulation 4,666 4,546 2.6% 55,100 55,121 (0.0%) Other 217 105 106.7% 1,622 2,032 (20.2%) Total $26,207 $24,408 7.4% $278,684 $275,124 1.3% Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc.: Advertising (Note 3): $ 8,088 $ 7,751 4.3% $ 84,968 $ 83,217 2.1% Circulation 1,630 1,629 0.1% 19,229 19,359 (0.7%) Other 405 477 (15.1%) 4,808 5,407 (11.1%) Total $10,123 $ 9,857 2.7% $109,005 $107,983 0.9% Operating Revenues of Unconsolidated Newspaper Joint Venture: Pulitzer's 50% share of Tucson Newspaper Agency: Advertising (Note 3): $ 3,495 $ 3,563 (1.9%) $ 38,130 $ 37,812 0.8% Circulation 901 868 3.8% 10,564 9,904 6.7% Other 39 30 30.0% 418 525 (20.4%) Total $ 4,435 $ 4,461 (0.6%) $ 49,112 $ 48,241 1.8% Note 1 Year-to-year comparisons are affected by current-year weekly newspaper acquisitions that complement the Company's newspapers in several markets. On a comparable basis, excluding the impact of the 2003 acquisitions absent in 2002, advertising and total revenues would have increased as follows: Four Weeks 48 Weeks Comparable Change Comparable Change Total Total Pulitzer PNI Pulitzer PNI Advertising Revenue 6.1% 1.5% 1.6% 1.0% Total Revenue 5.3% 0.2% 0.9% 0.0% Note 2 Includes revenues of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, St. Louis e-media operations, and STL Distribution Services. Note 3 For the four-week and year-to-date periods ended November 30, 2003, classified employment advertising revenue in St. Louis, including STLtoday.com, increased 4.4 percent and decreased 11.7 percent, respectively. At PNI, comparable classified employment advertising revenue, excluding the impact of 2003 acquisitions absent in 2002, increased 0.8 percent and decreased 3.1 percent for the four-week and year-to-date periods, respectively. At the Tucson Newspaper Agency, classified employment advertising revenue increased 25.7 percent and 5.2 percent for the four-week and year-to-date periods, respectively. Note 4 Certain reclassifications have been made to the 2003 and 2002 financial statements and statistical data to conform with the presentation made for the eleventh period of 2003. PULITZER INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES PERIOD REVENUE AND STATISTICAL REPORT SELECTED STATISTICAL INFORMATION Four Four 48 48 Weeks Weeks Weeks Weeks Ended Ended Ended Ended Nov. 30, Dec. 1, Nov. 30, Dec. 1, 2003 2002 Change 2003 2002 Change (Note 4) (Note 4) Advertising Linage (in thousands of inches) ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: Advertising Inches Full run (all zones) Retail 76.9 74.5 3.2% 707.5 694.3 1.9% General 16.7 18.4 (9.1%) 180.4 183.3 (1.6%) Classified 67.7 76.0 (10.9%) 937.4 985.7 (4.9%) Total 161.3 168.9 (4.5%) 1,825.2 1,863.3 (2.0%) Part run (Retail/ Classified) 39.8 47.2 (15.7%) 445.9 518.0 (13.9%) Total Inches 201.1 216.1 (6.9%) 2,271.0 2,381.3 (4.6%) TUCSON NEWSPAPER AGENCY: Star/Citizen Advertising Inches Full run (all zones) Retail 134.3 142.0 (5.4%) 1,370.5 1,460.5 (6.2%) General 7.7 8.0 (3.8%) 83.8 93.5 (10.4%) Classified 120.0 121.9 (1.6%) 1,447.3 1,437.6 0.7% Total 262.0 271.9 (3.6%) 2,901.6 2,991.6 (3.0%) Part run (Retail/ Classified) 5.1 5.7 (10.5%) 67.8 86.6 (21.7%) Total Inches 267.1 277.6 (3.8%) 2,969.4 3,078.2 (3.5%) Year-to-Date Period Average Average 2003 2002 Change 2003 2002 Change Circulation (Note 5) ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: Daily 287,791 291,748 (1.4%) 286,740 289,229 (0.9%) Sunday 471,749 470,825 0.2% 459,000 469,203 (2.2%) COMBINED PULITZER NEWSPAPERS, INC.: Daily 191,292 189,327 1.0% 189,106 188,408 0.4% Sunday 191,312 192,026 (0.4%) 190,441 188,942 0.8% TUCSON NEWSPAPER AGENCY: Star Daily 109,412 106,471 2.8% 103,671 103,037 0.6% Citizen Daily 32,458 35,482 (8.5%) 33,464 36,193 (7.5%) Combined Daily 141,870 141,953 (0.1%) 137,135 139,230 (1.5%) Star Sunday 175,483 176,592 (0.6%) 170,444 171,181 (0.4%) Four Four 48 48 Weeks Weeks Weeks Weeks Ended Ended Ended Ended Nov. 30, Dec. 1, Nov. 30, Dec. 1, 2003 2002 Change 2003 2002 (Note 4) (Note 4) Change Online Page Views (in thousands) Combined St. Louis (Note 6): 25,923 16,043 61.6% 246,562 162,707 51.5% Combined PNI Web sites (Note 7): 6,989 8,796 (20.5%) 81,548 91,690 (11.1%) Combined Tucson Web sites: 6,333 6,739 (6.0%) 72,671 63,773 14.0% Note 5 Year-to-date circulation levels represent averages (unaudited) for the current ABC annual audit periods ending September 30 and December 31 for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Tucson Newspaper Agency, respectively. Year-to-date PNI amounts represent combined averages (unaudited) for the annual periods ending December 31. Note 6 Company estimate for year-to-date 2002. Note 7 Beginning in January 2003, the Company changed the manner in which PNI records page view data. 2003 data may not be comparable with 2002 reported results. DATASOURCE: Pulitzer Inc. CONTACT: James V. Maloney, Director of Shareholder Relations, of Pulitzer Inc., +1-314-340-8402 Web site: http://www.pulitzerinc.com/

Copyright