Times Mirror’s Net Falls 38% in Quarter

Times Mirror Co. said its fourth-quarter net income fell 38.4% to $45.6 million from $74.1 million a year earlier as the recession and the continuing slump in advertising took a toll on the company’s newspapers, magazines and television stations.

Revenue during the period edged up 2.3% to $956.4 million from $934.4 million.

“The difficult operating environment that adversely affected our advertising-based businesses in 1990 continued in the fourth quarter,” Robert F. Erburu, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

“With the nation’s economy still in a recession and advertising revenues severely impacted by the outbreak of war, we now anticipate significant deterioration in our operating performance in the first quarter of 1991,” Erburu added.

Erburu noted that fourth-quarter earnings fell despite “another solid quarterly performance from our non-advertising-dependent businesses.” In particular, Times Mirror cited strong earnings from its legal, medical and flight information publishers.

Times Mirror, based in Los Angeles, publishes the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and New York Newsday, the Baltimore Sun newspapers, the Hartford Courant and other dailies. The company also has interests in cable and broadcast television and in book, magazine and other publishing.

“There were no surprises here,” said John S. Reidy, media analyst for Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. in New York. “The strongest geographical areas of the ‘80s--the East and West coasts--are coming down the hardest in the current recession, and Times Mirror has newspapers on both.”

Another analyst, J. Kendrick Noble Jr., president of Noble Consultants in Bronxville, N.Y., said Times Mirror’s performance was “in line with the industry,” given the location of its newspapers.

For all of 1990, Times Mirror’s net income fell 39.4% to $180.5 million from $298 million in 1989. Revenue climbed 3.3% to $3.63 billion from $3.52 billion in 1989.

Operating profit for Times Mirror’s newspaper operations fell 48.7% during the 1990 fourth quarter to $37.2 million and was off 45% for the year. Slumps in holiday and classified advertising were exacerbated by higher newsprint and operating expenses that resulted from strong circulation gains posted by The Times and Newsday.

The company’s book, magazine and other publishing operations posted a gain in operating profit of 5.5% for the fourth quarter to $54.4 million and climbed 9.9% for all of 1990.

Fourth-quarter cable television operating profit jumped 92.8% to $20.4 million from year-earlier results, which were depressed by a tax hike in Orange County and a charge to settle a lawsuit. For all of 1990, operating profit for cable climbed 22%.

Finally, broadcast television’s operating profit fell 15.8% to $10.6 million for the fourth quarter, reflecting lackluster advertising sales and higher programming costs. O perating profits fell 18.6% for the entire year.