Thursday May 14, 01:20 PM
UPDATE 1-Spain's Vocento says downward ad trend persists
MADRID, May 14 (Reuters) - Spain's Vocento (Madrid: VOC.MC - news) , publisher of newspaper ABC, sees the downward trend in advertising
persisting throughout the year, its Chief Executive Jose Manuel Vargas said on Thursday.
Vocento's advertising revenues fell 28 percent in the first quarter to March, and Vargas said there was no sign of any change in April and May.
'There are some signs of an economic improvement, but it's too soon to say whether that will help the advertising market this year,' Vargas said in a conference call on results.
Earlier, Vocento said it swung to a first-quarter net profit of 2.69 million euros from a 508,000 euro loss in the same period last year, though earnings were distorted by a restructuring plan and one-off asset sales.
Total revenues for the group -- which owns TV, radio and newspaper assets -- fell 14.9 percent to 184.37 million euros, as a 3 percent rise in newspaper sales failed to offset plummeting advertising revenues.
Vocento swung to an operating profit of 6.7 million euros from a 10.7 million euro loss a year ago, helped by a 15 percent decline in costs.
At 1157 GMT, Vocento shares were down 0.23 percent at 4.34 euros.
Management said the first quarter cost cuts were sustainable for the rest of the year and would help the company be profitable in the medium term.
Vocento is modernising its business and is one of the few media companies that analysts say is well positioned to withstand the economic crisis and the downturn in advertising, given it has practically no debt.
(Reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary and Tracy Rucinski, editing by Will Waterman)
($1=.7377 Euro) Keywords: VOCENTO/
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