PTZ Pulitzer

Pulitzer Inc. Reports Fifth-Period Revenue For Four Weeks Ended May 30, 2004 ST. LOUIS, June 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pulitzer Inc. (NYSE:PTZ) today announced that revenue increased 5.4 percent for the four-week accounting period ended May 30, 2004 and increased 4.8 percent for the twenty- two-week year-to-date period when compared to the respective 2003 periods. May 2004 advertising revenue in St. Louis and at the 12 Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc. ("PNI") markets increased 6.2 percent, with increases of 2.6 percent at the St. Louis operations and 15.7 percent at PNI. On a comparable basis, excluding the results of PNI acquisitions absent in the comparable periods of 2003, total revenue increased 4.3 percent for the four-week period ended May 30, 2004 and increased 3.9 percent for the twenty- two-week year-to-date period. Total comparable advertising revenue increased 4.9 percent for the four-week period ended May 30, 2004 and increased 4.6 percent for the twenty-two-week year-to-date period. Fifth period 2004 comparable advertising revenue increased 2.6 percent at the St. Louis operations and 10.9 percent at PNI. Comparable advertising revenue increased 3.1 percent at the St. Louis operations and 8.8 percent at PNI for the twenty- two-week year-to-date period. The principal components of the fifth-period comparable advertising revenue results for St. Louis and PNI were: -- Comparable retail advertising revenue, including preprints, increased 3.5 percent. Comparable retail ROP revenue increased 1.0 percent, principally due to gains in the grocery and electronic segments, as well as gains in local territory revenue, which increased 13.2 percent in St. Louis. The St. Louis declines relate to weakness in the department store, entertainment, home improvement, and furniture categories. Comparable retail ROP revenue decreased 2.0 percent in St. Louis and increased 6.6 percent at PNI. Comparable retail preprint revenue increased 8.9 percent in St. Louis and 7.9 percent at PNI. -- Comparable fifth period national advertising revenue, including preprints, decreased 13.9 percent versus 2003, principally due to weakness in the pharmaceutical, telecom, and travel categories, as well as tough comps versus 2003, particularly in St. Louis. Comparable national preprint revenue decreased 21.8 percent for the period and comparable national ROP revenue decreased 12.9 percent. Comparable national advertising revenue, including preprints, decreased 13.6 percent in St. Louis and 17.9 percent at PNI. -- Comparable classified revenue increased 12.2 percent, with growth in all major categories. Comparable Classified Advertising Revenue Percentage Change 2004 Versus 2003 Total Pulitzer, including Tucson Tucson Total Newspaper Newspaper PERIOD 5 St. Louis PNI Pulitzer Agency Agency Help Wanted 13.3% 37.5% 18.9% 49.6% 22.3% Automotive 10.3% 9.0% 10.0% 1.9% 9.0% Real Estate 10.8% 18.8% 13.1% (2.9%) 11.8% Total Classified Revenue 9.5% 20.0% 12.2% 17.0% 12.7% Comparable Classified Advertising Revenue Percentage Change 2004 Versus 2003 Total Pulitzer, including Tucson Tucson Total Newspaper Newspaper Year-to-date St. Louis PNI Pulitzer Agency Agency Help Wanted 7.7% 32.0% 12.8% 42.1% 16.2% Automotive 9.1% 5.8% 8.3% 4.1% 7.8% Real Estate 9.3% 18.3% 11.8% (5.5%) 10.1% Total Classified Revenue 8.2% 16.6% 10.3% 13.7% 10.7% May 2004 revenue associated with the Company's 50 percent interest in the Tucson Newspaper Agency ("TNI") increased 5.1 percent, and total advertising revenue increased 7.0 percent. TNI retail revenue, including preprints, increased 3.8 percent with a 6.2 percent decrease in retail ROP offset by a 41.4 percent increase in retail preprint revenue. Local territory revenues increased 28.5 percent for the period. TNI national revenue, including preprints, decreased 28.8 percent. May classified revenue increased 17.0 percent. St. Louis Post-Dispatch Labor Settlement On June 6, 2004, the members of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild approved a new five-year contract. Under the terms of the new contract, Guild members will receive wage increases of 5 percent or 6 percent in the first year (prior to the new contract, Guild members had not received a wage increase in the previous year and a half), of approximately $0.6 million 2004, depending on the employees' pay classification. Annual wage increases would decrease each of the next four years, ending with 2.5 percent in the final year of the contract. The new contract requires workers to pay 15 percent of their health insurance premiums in the contract's first year, increasing to 25 percent by the third year of the contract. In addition, Guild members will receive a one-time signing bonus in the cumulative amount of approximately $0.4 million. The Guild represents approximately 600 newsroom, advertising, circulation, and support workers at the Post-Dispatch. 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, Ariz., and through its Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc. ("PNI") subsidiary, 12 other dailies and more than 65 weekly newspapers, shoppers, and niche publications. The PNI dailies are 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 38 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. PULITZER INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES PERIOD REVENUE AND STATISTICAL REPORT (Revenue in thousands -- Unaudited) Four Four 22 22 Weeks Weeks Weeks Weeks Ended Ended Ended Ended May 30, June 1, May 30, June 1, 2004 2003 Change 2004 2003 Change (Note 3) (Note 3) Consolidated Operating Revenue (Note 1): Advertising: Retail $ 9,481 $ 9,210 2.9% $ 49,440 $ 47,645 3.8% National 2,143 2,459 (12.9%) 10,595 11,846 (10.6%) Classified 11,207 9,859 13.7% 56,762 50,816 11.7% Total 22,831 21,528 6.1% 116,797 110,307 5.9% Preprints 5,119 4,779 7.1% 26,269 25,078 4.7% Total Advertising 27,950 26,307 6.2% 143,066 135,385 5.7% Circulation 6,329 6,169 2.6% 34,838 34,283 1.6% Other 593 601 (1.3%) 3,102 3,066 1.2% Total $34,872 $33,077 5.4% $181,006 $172,734 4.8% Operating Revenue of Consolidated Subsidiaries: St. Louis Operations (Note 2): Advertising $19,535 $19,033 2.6% $101,645 $ 98,600 3.1% Circulation 4,691 4,569 2.7% 26,008 25,458 2.2% Other 100 165 (39.4%) 814 713 14.2% Total $24,326 $23,767 2.4% $128,467 $124,771 3.0% Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc. Advertising $ 8,415 $ 7,274 15.7% $ 41,421 $ 36,785 12.6% Circulation 1,638 1,600 2.4% 8,830 8,825 0.1% Other 493 436 13.1% 2,288 2,353 (2.8%) Total $10,546 $ 9,310 13.3% $ 52,539 $ 47,963 9.5% Operating Revenue of Unconsolidated Newspaper Joint Venture: Pulitzer's 50% share of Tucson Newspaper Agency: Advertising $ 3,383 $ 3,163 7.0% $ 18,014 $ 17,713 1.7% Circulation 848 855 (0.8%) 4,999 5,025 (0.5%) Other 45 52 (13.5%) 185 211 (12.3%) Total $ 4,276 $ 4,070 5.1% $ 23,198 $ 22,949 1.1% Note 1 Year-to-year comparisons are affected by weekly newspaper acquisitions within the last 12 months that complement the Company's newspapers in several markets. On a comparable basis, excluding the impact of the acquisitions for comparable ownership periods in each year, advertising and total revenues would have increased as follows: Four Weeks 22 Weeks Comparable Change Comparable Change Total Total Pulitzer PNI Pulitzer PNI Advertising Revenue 4.9% 10.9% 4.6% 8.8% Total Revenue 4.3% 9.2% 3.9% 6.3% 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 Certain reclassifications have been made to the 2003 financial statements and statistical data to conform with the presentation made in 2004. PULITZER INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES PERIOD REVENUE AND STATISTICAL REPORT SELECTED STATISTICAL INFORMATION Four Four 22 22 Weeks Weeks Weeks Weeks Ended Ended Ended Ended May 30, June 1, May 30, June 1, 2004 2003 Change 2004 2003 Change (Note 3) (Note 3) Advertising Linage (in thousands of inches) ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: Advertising Inches Full run (all zones) Retail 52.6 60.0 (12.2%) 293.1 301.3 (2.7%) General 15.1 15.9 (5.1%) 72.5 81.4 (10.9%) Classified 81.6 83.2 (1.9%) 408.6 423.3 (3.5%) Total 149.3 159.1 (6.1%) 774.2 806.0 (3.9%) Part run (Retail/ Classified) 45.5 37.5 21.4% 235.7 201.6 16.9% Total Inches 194.8 196.6 (0.9%) 1,009.9 1,007.6 0.2% TUCSON NEWSPAPER AGENCY: Star/Citizen advertising inches Full run (all zones) Retail 113.0 118.6 (4.7%) 616.4 649.7 (5.1%) General 4.6 6.9 (33.9%) 32.5 38.1 (14.6%) Classified 133.4 121.0 10.2% 693.6 652.5 6.3% Total 250.9 246.5 1.8% 1,342.5 1,340.3 0.2% Part run (Retail/ Classified) 3.1 5.4 (42.3%) 20.4 30.9 (34.0%) Total Inches 254.0 252.0 0.8% 1,362.9 1,371.2 (0.6%) Circulation (Note 4): Year-to-Date Period Average Average 2004 2003 Change 2004 2003 Change ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH: Daily 288,858 284,537 1.5% 282,012 287,724 (2.0%) Sunday 456,584 459,211 (0.6%) 453,950 466,814 (2.8%) COMBINED PULITZER NEWSPAPERS, INC.: Daily 193,747 194,015 (0.1%) 192,639 193,400 (0.4%) Sunday 188,606 189,894 (0.7%) 188,765 190,884 (1.1%) TUCSON NEWSPAPER AGENCY: Star Daily 102,415 100,273 2.1% 110,498 108,237 2.1% Citizen Daily 30,173 32,880 (8.2%) 32,353 35,225 (8.2%) Combined Daily 132,588 133,153 (0.4%) 142,851 143,462 (0.4%) Star Sunday 162,559 163,779 (0.7%) 174,853 177,028 (1.2%) Online Page Views (in thousands) Four Four 22 22 Weeks Weeks Weeks Weeks Ended Ended Ended Ended May 30, June 1, May 30, June 1, 2004 2003 Change 2004 2003 (Note 3) (Note 3) Change St. Louis 26,525 17,975 47.6% 160,242 99,950 60.3% Combined PNI Web sites 8,912 7,086 25.8% 44,194 35,828 23.4% Combined Tucson Web sites 5,859 6,203 (5.5%) 32,634 31,816 2.6% Note 4 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. 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