• by Paul Gough , January 26, 2004

Direct marketing company ADVO Inc. has seen its revenues rise slightly, even though the California grocery strike has hampered advertising in that state.

Revenues grew to $302.4 million in the fourth quarter compared to $291.2 million a year ago, the Windsor, Conn.-based company said Friday.

National advertising in the grocery category was up 2.1 percent from the fourth quarter 2002, even with the strike. Yet revenue would have been better if it weren't for the grocers' response to the strike, cutting ad budgets, which ADVO estimated cut into fourth-quarter revenues by about $4.9 million. It isn't clear when the Southern California strike might be settled, giving rise to more concern in the current quarter.

Total advertising piece volume rose 10.1 percent to 7 billion compared to a year ago. Pieces per package rose 6.1 percent in what ADVO said was due to broad-based increases in demand across regions and categories. Yet revenue per piece was down 5.1 percent, due to strong demand in lighter-weight (and lower-cost) products and the grocery strike. Shared packages distributed rose 3.8 percent.

ADVO bills itself as the largest targeted in-home print advertising company in the nation. It has annual revenues of $1.1 billion, and its mail reaches 67 million U.S. households weekly and 105 million monthly.