• by Wayne Friedman , April 29, 2008

Newspaper company A.H. Belo Corp. is still having a tough time in the advertising market. The company narrowed its first-quarter 2008 loss to $8.7 million from a $9.3 million loss in the first quarter of 2007. Overall advertising revenues were $160.2 million, down $8.7 million from the year before.

Ad sales took a hit, dropping to $124.4 million from $141.9 the year before. Circulation revenue, however, was up a tick to $29.1 million from $27.6 million the year before.

More bad advertising news is to come. The company announced in a statement: "Weak economic trends suggest that the Company is likely to see a decline in advertising revenue throughout 2008. A principal driver of this revenue decline will likely continue to be The Press-Enterprise."

One of the group's hardest hit properties, The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif., saw advertising revenue--including print and Internet revenue--decline by 26%, one of the hardest-hit real estate markets in the nation.

A.H. Belo, which spun off its TV operations into Belo Corp. last year, remains mostly a newspaper company. It operates four newspapers and 12 associated Web sites. Its biggest property is the Dallas Morning News, which contributed over 64% of the A.H. Belo's revenue in the quarter. Other newspapers include: The Providence Journal and the Denton Record-Chronicle in Denton, Texas.

The market did not seem to be affected by the company's results. A.H. Belo was up 0.6% to $10.21 a share on light volume in mid-day trading.