New York Times profits leap 45%

The New York Times Company has delivered a shot in the arm to the world's print media business, posting a 45% leap in profit in the final quarter of last year, buoyed by a advertising surge.

Amid gloomy forecasts of an advertising recession lasting much of this year, the NYT recorded strong growth in key advertising categories, particularly in December.

The group, which owns the New York Times and Boston Globe newspapers as well as TV and radio interests, posted a 16.7% rise in advertising revenue for December, led by the flagship New York paper, which increased revenues by 21.8% in the month. The strongest revenue surge came from national advertising - mostly from large corporations in the telecommunications, entertainment, books and healthcare industries.

National advertising revenues rose 7.7% over the December quarter to £243m and an encouraging 15% over December itself.

The result will be welcomed by European print media companies, which receive a large amount of their advertising from US-based multinationals.

The figures will come as a boost to Pearson plc, the owner of the Financial Times, its shares rallying after their release early this afternoon. The shares were trading 3.3% higher shortly before the market's close today. NYT Company reported earnings of £107.5m for the quarter, against the £74m it earned in the same quarter in 2001, and exceeded the forecasts of most Wall Street analysts.

The group said retail and classified advertising categories also rose over December, the latter being buoyed by "help-wanted" advertising, which has been sluggish for more than two years.

The group also tipped its 2003 earnings would increase in percentage terms by "mid-single digit to low double digits", and its newspaper advertising and circulation would both rise between 3-5%.

The strong result will bolster the expansionist ambitions of the group and its chairman, Arthur Sulzberger Jnr, who has been reported to have made overtures to Pearson about buying the Financial Times.

NYT took full-ownership of the International Herald Tribune news group last October, buying out its partner the Washington Post for $70m.

Mr Shulzberger has indicated he wants to further the international reach of the group.

In other promising news for the US print media, Pulitzer Inc, a publisher of several smaller provincial newspapers, reported a fourfold increase in its fourth-quarter earnings, although it warned investors of increases in newsprint costs in 2003.