Tribune Media Declares Special Dividend, Reports Big Jump In Profit And Sales

Tribune Media Co. announced on Friday a special cash dividend of $6.73 a share, payable on April 9 to shareholders of record on March 25. The television stations operator said it would also begin paying a regular quarterly dividend of 25 cents a share, beginning in the second quarter. For the quarter ended Dec. 28, the company reported net earnings of $314.7 million, or $3.14 a share, up from $67.1 million, or 67 cents a share in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 85% to $553.4 million, amid an 80% increase in television and entertainment revenue and a more than doubling of digital and data segment revenue. The FactSet consensus analyst estimates were for per-share earnings of 55 cents and revenue of $510 million. For 2015, the company expects revenue of $2 billion to $2.03 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.87 billion. The stock, which was inactive in premarket trade, has run up 10% so far this year, while the S&P 500 has gained 2.1%.