UPDATE 1-GateHouse Media posts profit above market estimates
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March 14 (Reuters) - Newspaper publisher GateHouse Media Inc GHS.N posted a quarterly profit that beat Wall Street expectations, helped by a surge in revenue from acquisitions and online advertising growth.
The company, which publishes about 100 newspapers including the Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Massachusetts, and the Journal Star in Peoria, Illinois, completed the acquisition of some small market rural newspapers in the fourth quarter.
But Gatehouse took a non-cash impairment charge of $226 million for goodwill and mastheads, which hit earnings.
The company posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $214.6 million, or $3.78 a share, compared with net income of $7.8 million, or 23 cents, a year ago.
Excluding items, GateHouse earned 33 cents a share, compared with 9 cents a share analysts expected, according to Reuters Estimates.
Total revenue rose 76 percent to $172.2 million. Analysts expected $172.1 million.
Print classified advertising revenue -- in particular, help wanted, real estate and automotive -- declined.
U.S. newspapers have been experiencing a fall in print advertising and losing audiences as more readers look to the Internet for news.
Citing the current market, and to maintain its free cash flow growth, GateHouse halved its first-quarter dividend, and its board approved a stock repurchase program of up to $75 million. (Reporting by John Tilak in Bangalore; Editing by Bernard Orr)
