Washington Post profit falls

Washington Post Co posted a 13 percent fall in quarterly profit on Friday, but its shares rose 5 percent as slower US jobs growth was expected to boost demand for its Kaplan educational business.
Like other US newspaper publishers, the Washington Post's second-quarter result was weighed by declines in print advertising sales and circulation as it faced competition from the Internet for readers and marketers.
Unlike them, the company has Kaplan - a major business division that is reporting gains from a strong market for test-preparation services. "When people lose their jobs or fear losing their jobs, they start to think about going back and retraining through higher education for more talent-specific opportunities," said Thomas Russo, an analyst for Gardner Russo & Gardner.
US job growth in July was the slowest since February, and the jobless rate ticked up to 4.6 percent, its highest since the start of the year, government data showed on Friday.
The Washington Post's net profit fell to $68.8 million, or $7.19 per share, from $78.7 million, or $8.17 per share, a year ago.
Excluding tax-related special items, earnings came to $8.16 per share, below the average forecast of $8.42 from Wall Street analysts, according to Reuters Estimates. The company's education division revenue, which includes Kaplan, rose 23 percent to $503 million. That helped push up overall revenue by 8 percent in the second quarter to $1.05 billion.
The average analyst forecast was for revenue of $1.03 billion, according to Reuters Estimates. Newspaper revenue fell 7 percent to $228 million in the quarter, with print advertising sales at the Post falling 13 percent to $128 million. The company said the fall was due to reductions in real estate ads, as well as classified job ads.
The Post's circulation declined 2.9 percent in the first six months of 2007, compared to the same period in 2006. Cable television revenue rose 9 percent to $154 million. The company's shares rose $46.09, or 5.82 percent, to $837.99 in late-afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.