Cable TV ad sales boost News Corp.
| YESTERDAY | |
| Close | $17.44 |
| Change | +$0.25 |
| 52-WEEK | |
| High | $19.41 |
| Low | $15.30 |
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., the fourth-biggest US media company, posted a 67 percent increase in quarterly profit, driven by advertising sales at cable television networks including Fox News Channel.
Fourth-quarter net income rose to $717 million, or 23 cents per class A share, from $429 million, or 15 cents, a year earlier, the New York company said yesterday.
Sales advanced 11 percent to $6.1 billion, beating analysts' estimates. News Corp.'s cable TV unit, which includes FX, Fuse, and regional sports networks, posted a profit gain of 14 percent, its 11th consecutive quarter of rising earnings. The results underscore News Corp.'s reliance on cable networks to bolster profit.
Profit beat the 18-cent average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. (Bloomberg)
Federated's profit nearly doubles
| YESTERDAY | |
| Close | $73.69 |
| Change | +$0.93 |
| 52-WEEK | |
| High | $78.05 |
| Low | $42.80 |
Federated Department Stores Inc.'s merchandising formula appears to be winning over shoppers as the department store operator reported robust second-quarter profits that nearly doubled over the same period a year ago. It also said it expects sales growth to accelerate in the second half of the year.
Showing no signs of distraction over its pending acquisition of rival May Department Stores Co., the Cincinnati company, which owns Macy's and Bloomingdale's, reported net income for the quarter ended July 30 jumped $148 million, or 84 cents per share. That compares with $78 million, or 43 cents per share, a year ago when the company took a $59 million charge, or 20 cents a share, to buy back $274 million of long-term debt.
The second-quarter 2005 numbers were in line with analysts' profit expectations. (Bloomberg)
