Belo swings to first-quarter loss on spinoff charges

The Dallas-based company said it has seen a pickup in local and national spot advertising revenue since the quarter ended March 31.

Belo said it lost $15.4 million, or 15 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared with a profit of $15.5 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.

The January-March figures included spin-off-related charges of about $21.4 million for financing costs and a one-time tax charge. Excluding the one-time charges, earnings would have been $10.5 million, or 10 cents per share, Belo said.

Analysts, who usually exclude items from their figures, had expected profit of 12 cents per share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial.

Revenue slipped to $174.8 million from $178.3 a year earlier, and was below analysts' forecast of $176.3 million.

Chief Executive Dunia A. Shive said sales were affected by "soft advertising conditions," especially for autos. She said Belo also saw an ad income drop because just one of its stations, a Fox affiliate, carried the ad-heavy Super Bowl this year, compared with five of its CBS affiliates last year.

On the other hand, political revenues rose in this election year to $5.1 million from less than $1 million in the first quarter of 2007. And Web site advertising rose 32 percent, to $6.9 million.

Shive said local and national spot revenues were doing better so far in the second quarter but that the company couldn't predict sales for the quarter due to the soft economy. She also said political advertising was likely to be lower in the April-to-June quarter but pick up later in the year.

Belo owns 20 television stations.