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Time Warner lowers full-year forecast
2008-11-05
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US media and entertainment giant Time Warner Inc. on Wednesday reported quarterly earnings that beat analysts' expectations but lowered its outlook for the remainder of the year. Time Warner said net profit for the third quarter was 1.07 billion dollars, approximately the same as during the same period a year ago, with earnings per share of 30 cents, slightly higher than the 27 cents forecast by analysts. It said revenue was essentially flat in the quarter at 11.7 billion dollars. "The quarter's solid earnings and superior free cash flow show the resilience of our businesses -- in spite of the challenging economic environment," Time Warner chief executive Jeff Bewkes said in a statement. Time Warner said that partly because of higher-than-expected restructuring costs and severance costs related to previously announced job cuts at Time magazine it was lowering its outlook for full-year earnings per share to 1.04 dollars to 1.07 dollars from 1.07 dollars to 1.11 dollars. Time Warner owns Time newsweekly and other magazines, the Warner Bros. movie studio and the CNN and HBO television networks among other properties. Its results were dragged down by the continuing disappointing performance in the third quarter of its Internet division, AOL, which saw advertising revenue decline by six percent. But Time Warner said growth in its Networks, Cable and Filmed Entertainment units including the blockbuster film "Dark Knight" more than offset declines at AOL and its publishing segment. Revenue grew eight percent at Time Warner Cable networks, which announced in a separate statement that net profit was up 21 percent in the quarter and the number of subscribers rose 1.5 percent to 34.15 million.
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