News Corp posts drop in first-quarter profit

The news: Media conglomerate News Corp has reported a decline in first-quarter profit, weighed down by lower advertising revenues and its property listings businesses.

The numbers: Net income for the three months to 30 September fell to USD58 million ($91 million) from USD66 million, while earnings per share dropped to 5 US cents from US 7 cents a year ago. However, revenue rose 1% from a year ago to USD2.50 billion.

The context: The media group said the gains were driven by growth in its book publishing and Dow Jones businesses, but this was offset by a non-cash impairment in the news media segment, lower revenue in the digital real estate services and lower advertising revenues. CEO Robert Thomson said profitability had risen 4%, marking the second consecutive quarter of profit growth.

“In our view, these results certainly highlight the disparity between the value of our company and our share price, which we believe does not reflect our present profitability, yet alone the potential of our incomparable, growing businesses,” he said.