In a further sign of the newspaper industry's continuing problems due to an advertising slump, Gannett reported another drop in revenue and profit for the second quarter of the year.
Profit fell by 22% to $151.5m (£93.8m), with newspaper advertising revenue having dropped 6.5% to $646.9m (£400.7m). However, this was roughly in line with the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
Gannett, which owns the Newsquest group in Britain, is the largest newspaper publisher in the US.
To show confidence in its business prospects, Gannett said it is resume buying back shares and also doubled its quarterly dividend.
Gannett's chairman and chief executive, Craig Dubow, said: "Overall, the results reflect the current state of economies here and in the UK, strength in some sectors while (weakness) in others, a challenging environment for ad demand."
In June, Gannett announced that is would axe 700 staff to cope with the ongoing advertising slump. T
Chief operating officer Gracia Martore said that the company currently has "no intentions of looking at further reductions, but obviously that has to be driven by each individual business' prospects and revenue opportunities going forward."
Sources: Wall Street Journal/AP/Yahoo! Finance/New York Times
