News Corp stocks up on profits news

Profits were higher than expected at the media company.


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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

The share price of News Corp has risen on the back of the latest profits news released by the company, which came in above the expectations of analysts.

News Corp revealed that it recorded a net income of $151 million (£93 million) in the quarter ending in December, while revenue fell by four per cent to $2.24 billion.

It was pointed out by News Corp's chief executive Robert Thompson that advertising sales were reduced at the media company's Australian newspapers and this was the main reason for the drop in its revenues.

"We are continuing to be disciplined on costs, while making opportunistic investments that will extend our revenue reach," he said in a statement. Mr Thompson added: "The digital transformation is certainly underway, as the acquisition of Storyful and the robust growth in digital sales at HarperCollins attest."

While shares in the company rose by as much as five per cent on the back of the news, they later fell away and ended yesterday's (February 6th) trading session in the US up by 2.29 per cent, with a further 1.4 per cent in after-hours trading.

Performance

Dow Jones, the financial news and information service, was another drag on the performance of the company during the quarter, with revenues falling at the company over the three months.

Mr Thompson also noted that a new digital focus at News Corp can be identified by the fact that digital subscriptions and website traffic are on the rise at most of its sites. He also highlighted the fact that revenue at REA, the online real estate company, "continues to expand encouragingly".

In the financial results, News Corp announced that it reported second quarter total segment EBITDA of $327 million, which it noted works out as a nine per cent increase as compared to $300 million in the prior year.

Stronger performances in the digital real estate and book publishing segments were cited as a reason for this, along with the consolidation of Fox Sports Australia and "lower costs for the claims and investigations arising out of certain conduct at the News of the World", which was shut down by the company last year.

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