Biz journal owner reports large drop in profits

Dolan Inc., the Minneapolis-based owner of business journals across the country, reported a 95 percent drop in net income in the first three months of year because business from its real estate notices continued to sputter.

Leslie Brooks Suzukamo of the St. Paul Pioneer Press writes, “In the quarter ending March 31, net income attributable to Dolan plunged 95 percent to $169,000 or 1 cent per share this year from $3.5 million or 12 cents a share last year.

“‘The public notice business appears to have troughed and is stabilizing,’ company CEO James Dolan said in a statement Tuesday.

“Dolan revised its revenue and earnings forecast for the year. Total revenue will be in the range of $290 million to $300 million, the company said, just below the $302.9 million expected by analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

“Full year net income will be in the range of 26 cents to 42 cents per share, the company said, which was in line with the analysts’ expectation of 41 cents per share.”

Read more here. Dolan owns the Long Island Business News, Mississippi Business Journal, the Colorado Springs Business Journal, the Idaho Business Review and the Daily Journal of Commerce in Portland, Ore., among others.