|
McGraw Hill 1Q climbs
|
 |
April 18, 2000: 3:57 p.m. ET
Earnings nearly double on strength of S&P and Super Bowl advertising
|
NEW YORK (CNNfn) - McGraw Hill Cos. reported first-quarter earnings Tuesday nearly double those of a year ago, boosting the stock 15 percent and reflecting solid performances at its Standard & Poor's ratings service, education and business publications.
Advertising during the Super Bowl helped contributed to the strong quarter, officials said.
The New York-based publisher and information provider posted income of $47.4 million, or 24 cents a share, excluding one-time items, up from $24.5 million, or 12 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Including a one-time gain on the sale of Tower Group International in February, the company posted first-quarter income of $57.6 million.
The figures trounced analysts' consensus forecast of 14 cents a share, according to earnings tracker First Call/Thomson Financial.
 Shares of McGraw Hill (MHP: Research, Estimates) surged 15 in early afternoon trading. Shares were up 5-15/16 to 48-11/16, a 13 percent rise, in late-day trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Revenue for the quarter rose 12 percent to $802.5 million from $716.5 million a year earlier.
"Another solid performance by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services under challenging market conditions, a strong start in education and outstanding results at BusinessWeek and our broadcasting group were key to our first quarter," Harold McGraw III, the company's chairman, president and CEO, said.
"We're very pleased that yes, BusinessWeek and broadcasting are up, but it's the financial side and the education side that are exciting," McGraw said in an interview on CNNfn. [WAV 540KB] [AIF 540 KB]
McGraw also said he foresees continued strength from the education segment because most of the programs that use McGraw-Hill products are government-funded and will continue to receive funding regardless of interest rates.
McGraw Hill, which reported $4 billion in sales in 1999, said revenue from its financial services segment, which includes Standard & Poor's, rose 8.3 percent to $317 million. Operating profit at Standard & Poor's grew to $101.5 million, a 10.8 percent increase from a year ago.
McGraw attributed S&P's performance to the company's diversification strategy based on global expansion and the development of products and services not affected by the interest rate.
He said European, Asian and Latin American markets led the gains at S&P, along with non-traditional products such as bank loan ratings, rating evaluation services and ratings of insurance companies.
Revenue in the educational and professional publishing segment, which includes BusinessWeek magazine, rose 14.2 percent to $238.7 million as the operating loss fell 16.2 percent to $36.8 million. 
|
|
|
|
|
|
McGraw-Hill
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
