News Corp has reported post-tax profits down by 24.8% to $203 million, as the group’s Q2 financial results were released in New York yesterday evening.
However, strong performances at the group’s film and cable businesses saw a pro forma revenue growth of 3%; cable network programming’s operating income rose by 36%, driven good subscriber growth.
UK newspapers News Corp owns News International, the publisher of the Times, Sunday Times, News Of The World and Sun newspapers in the UK. Advertising revenues at all of News Corp’s newspaper businesses were weak, according to the results, but the market was particularly weak in the UK.
Circulation revenue gains, made following 11 September, were more than offset by a 19% decline in advertising revenues, as a result of this weak market. Recruitment revenue levels at the Times and Sunday Times were especially weak.
Figures for News Corp’s UK satellite broadcasting business, BSkyB, were released at the end of last week (see BSkyB Growth Beats Expectations).
