EARNINGS DOWN FOR HOLLINGER
By Adnews Staff
On the heels of the announcement that Conrad Black has taken effective control of on Southam Inc., the first quarter results of his Vancouver-based Hollinger Inc. have been released. Profits for the international newspaper company have taken a slide. For the the three months ended Mar. 31 the company had an operating loss of $7.2 million, compared with a profit of $4.9 million for the same quarter the previous year. However, when the effects of unusual items and discontinued operations were taken into account the company posted net earnings of $6.5 million, compared with $11.2 million a year earlier. Newsprint costs were up while foreign currency gains were down. At the same time, Canadian publications acquired late last year and during the first quarter of 1966 had a collective loss of $2 million. Meanwhile, Hollinger has announced that it intends to build its holding in Toronto-based Southam to an absolute control position of more than 50%. Last week Hollinger took effective control of Southam when it built its interest in Southam to 41% by buying the holding of Montreal-based Power Corporation of Canada. The combined properties of Hollinger and Southam include 58 Canadian daily newspapers with total circulation of more than two million.