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Microcap & Penny Stocks : Bid.com International (BIDS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: donkeyman who wrote (28541)	4/29/1999 9:42:00 AM
From: waldo	Respond to of 37507

Thursday, April 29, 1999 Sale helps Torstar offset lower profit Special deal on sundays: Fall in revenue from advertising and circulation Barbara Shecter Financial Post A timely sale of shares in Internet retailer Bid.com, and lower interest expenses, helped Torstar Corp. meet analyst expectations in the first quarter, despite lower operating results. The period to March 31 included the first month of profit from four Southam newspapers that were bought last year after a failed takeover of Sun Media Corp. "The numbers were a bit weak," said an analyst, who requested anonymity. Torstar blamed lower advertising lineage, and lower circulation revenue due to price promotions for a $4.9-million decrease in profit at the flagship Toronto Star. This was partially offset by a $3.1-million gain on the sale of Bid.com shares and $1.5-million in operating profit from The Record (Kitchener-Waterloo), the Guelph Mercury, The Hamilton Spectator, and the Cambridge Reporter. Torstar said advertising lineage was down 3% in the quarter, and circulation revenue was off $1.6-million. Analysts were told that lineage was still down in April. Torstar said single copy sales were also lower in the first quarter, due in part to the absence of the winter Olympics this year. After the firm's annual meeting in Toronto yesterday, John Honderich, publisher of the Toronto Star, said it has retained 99.6% of the Monday-through-Friday readers it had before the October launch of the National Post. He would not comment on Saturday figures, even when asked about industry speculation that as many as 23,000 readers had been lost on that day of the week. "I haven't got that figure with me so I can't confirm," he said. "Saturday is a very, very competitive day right now." Last year, Torstar claimed to have circulation of nearly 703,000 on Saturdays. Mr. Honderich said Torstar will begin testing the appetite for the Sunday Star with readers of the Spectator, the Record and the Reporter. Special deals will be offered to some readers in two weeks. Torstar's net income, after discontinued operations, was $20.6-million (28¢ a share), down from $21.7-million (28¢) in the comparable quarter a year earlier. Revenue rose to $333.9-million from $306.9-million. Torstar hopes to appeal to advertisers with a $60-million upgrade of its colour printing capacity, and a pitch that it can reach more readers than competitors more cheaply. nationalpost.com W