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CHICAGO (AFX) - Sun-Times Media Group, publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times and community newspapers around Chicago, reported a $34.9 million third-quarter loss Wednesday as advertising and circulation revenue both declined.
Sun-Times, formerly Hollinger International Inc., also said a special committee of its board of directors had found in an investigation that the grant dates on some stock option awards to executives and key employees from 1999-2002 were misdated.
It said the amounts resulting from options misdating do not appear to have had a material impact on financial results during that period. "Nevertheless, the company will need to determine whether any of these instances were intentional, which could require the restatement of affected prior-year results," it said in a press release.
The net loss for the July-through-September period amounted to 43 cents per share, compared with a loss of $9.1 million, or 10 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2005.
Operating revenues declined 13 percent to $99.1 million from $113.6 million.
The company had warned last month that third-quarter results would be hurt more than expected by large declines in the Chicago newspaper advertising market.
It said ad revenues in the quarter were down 14 percent to $76.4 million and circulation revenues declined 8 percent, or $1.7 million.
"We have taken significant steps to improve our cost structure and address the challenging market and competitive environment (but) there is more work to do," CEO Gordon Paris said. "In particular, with respect to the Chicago Sun-Times, we are analyzing alternatives to reposition and re-energize that property to more effectively meet the needs of our targeted print and online readers and advertisers."
The media group said it is still actively assessing a broad array of options for its holdings. It also said it expects to name a new chief executive officer soon to replace Gordon Paris, who announced in September he was stepping down at the end of the year.
Shares in the company fell 10 cents, or 1.7 percent, to close at $5.74, just 4 cents above its all-time low, on the New York Stock Exchange before the report was released. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
Copyright 2006 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
