UPDATE 1-Radio One posts Q3 profit, shares jump to year-high
* Posts Q3 profit vs yr-ago loss
* CEO: Radio stations outperform competitors
* Shares rise 60 percent to year-high
Oct 29 (Reuters) - Shares of Radio One Inc (ROIA.O) rose as much as 60 percent to a new 52-week high after the radio broadcaster posted a third-quarter profit as its stations continued to show signs of improvement. "Our third-quarter results contain mixed signals. The sequential improvement in radio revenue that we have been seeing since the first quarter continued, but not as strongly as I would have liked," Chief Executive Alfred Liggins said in a statement.
The company's radio stations outperformed competitors by 390 basis points in the quarter, as its food and beverage, retail, healthcare and government/public segments showed signs of recovery, he said.
Shares of the company were up 25 percent at $2.12 in morning trade Thursday, making them one of the top percentage gainers on Nasdaq. They touched a high of $2.72 earlier in the session. Net income in the quarter was $14.2 million, or 25 cents a share, compared with a loss of $266.1 million, or $2.81 a share, in the year-ago period.
Net revenue fell 12 percent to $75.5 million, but rose 16 percent sequentially.
Liggins, however, said that the automotive, financial, telecoms and entertainment segments still displayed significant weakness.
The prolonged weak economic environment also caused a reduction in sponsorships for certain key events in the quarter, he said. (Reporting by Savio D'Souza in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)
