Owner of business newspapers reports wider loss

Dolan Media, the parent of several weekly business newspapers, reported its first quarterly earnings Thursday since going public earlier this year and posted a bigger loss than the same quarter in 2006, according to a report in the Long Island Business News, one of its papers.

Reporter Henry Powderly II wrote, “Dolan, which runs business papers around the country, attributed the larger loss to a $26.3 million charge related to its redeemable preferred stock. That charge was much less, $8.8 million, in the year-ago quarter.

“However, revenue for the quarter rose by 33 percent to $37.1 million compared to revenue of $27.9 million one year earlier.

“‘Our strong second quarter performance was driven by growth in all of our key business areas, including significant expansion within our higher-margin Professional Services Division and organic growth within existing businesses of our Business Information Division,’ Chief Executive James P. Dolan said in a statement.”

Read more here. In addition to the Long Island paper, Dolan also owns the Mississippi Business Journal, the Colorado Springs Business Journal, the Idaho Business Review and the Daily Journal of Commerce in Portland, Ore., among other papers.