Clear Channel’s Profit Up 1%

Clear Channel Communications Inc., the largest U.S. radio broadcaster, said Friday that second-quarter profit was little changed because slower growth in national advertising crimped sales at its 1,200 stations.

Net income rose 1% to $253.8 million, or 41 cents a share, from $251.3 million, or 41 cents, a year earlier, the San Antonio-based company said. Sales grew 7.2% to $2.49 billion.

Revenue at the radio unit, Clear Channel’s largest division, rose 2.7% to $996.8 million, outpaced by sales growth at the billboard and concert businesses. Radio is losing advertisers amid competition from the Internet and cable television, said Kit Spring, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Spring rates Clear Channel shares “market perform” and doesn’t own them.

Expenses rose 7.2%. They included higher salaries for on-air radio talent, concert cancellations and higher guaranteed compensation to performers in the live entertainment business, the company said.

Clear Channel shares fell 32 cents to $35.41 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company was expected to report a profit of 41 cents a share, according to the average estimate of 25 analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. Sales were forecast at $2.43 billion.