Solid results but News Corp misses profit expectations

However, the company recorded a strong performance at its cable and television business. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which owns broadcaster Fox and publishes newspapers including the Wall Street Journal and the News of the World, said its fiscal third quarter compares with a year ago when it benefited from the record-breaking performance of Hollywood blockbuster Avatar. The New York-based company is in the process of trying to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB it doesn’t already own. News Corp made a 700p a share offer last June and the BSkyB board said it’s looking for around 800p or a valuation of $14bn (£8.5bn). Chief financial officer Dave Devoe reiterated a previous outlook of low double-digit range of operating income growth, despite the worse-than-expected March quarter. He said: “We are anticipating strong earnings growth in our fourth fiscal quarter. Now with only two months to go, we feel very confident in achieving this growth rate.” The company’s net profit was down from a year ago to 26 cents after adjusting for one-time charges. Revenue dropped 6 per cent to $8.26bn. “These were largely solid results with the revenue better than we had expected driven by gains at TV and cable,” said Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Eagan. “This stock has been about fiscal year 2012 for some time because then you will no longer have the tough comparisons with Ava- tar.” News Corp’s overall cable and television business enjoyed a resurgence in advertising revenues and rising cable affiliate fees like other rivals at CBS Corp and Time Warner Inc. The two segments saw operating income rise some 48 per cent. The Fox television business received a huge boost from its coverage of this year’s American football Super Bowl and broadcast re-transmission fees, boosting its revenue by 23 per cent. News Corp’s filmed entertainment operating income fell by 50 per cent to $248m, compared with the quarter a year ago. Publishing operating profit was down to $36m. This was a drop of $207m due to a $125m charge at its marketing service business. The company also revealed that it had suffered from advertising revenue declines at its Australian and UK newspapers. News Corp is also in the process of assessing buyout offers for its entertainment site Myspace, a pioneer of social networking which has fallen behind Facebook. News Corp said Myspace continued to rack up increasing losses during the third quarter.