Time Warner posts higher fourth-quarter profit

Time Warner Inc posted higher fourth-quarter profit that beat Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, as growth in its cable networks offset declines in the film, TV entertainment and publishing units, sending shares up 5 percent.

The company said it expects its 2013 adjusted earnings to rise in the low double-digits in percentage terms from $3.28 per share in 2012. This falls short of the 11 percent increase that analysts, on average, were expecting.

The company also said it will take a $60 million restructuring charge on its Time Inc unit.

Time Warner said it is raising its quarterly dividend by 11 percent to $0.2875 per share and that the board authorized a new $4 billion share repurchase program that started in January.

Net income for the company, which owns the CNN and TNT cable networks, premium TV service HBO, People magazine and a movie studio, rose to $1.16 billion, or $1.21 a share, from $773 million, or 76 cents a share, a year ago.

On an adjusted basis, its EPS was $1.17, which beat Wall Street estimates by 7 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue fell 0.4 percent from a year earlier to $8.16 billion. Analysts were expecting $8.22 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares rose by 4.6 percent to $52.30 in premarket trading.