News Corp. earnings up threefold

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. reported Wednesday that its earnings more than tripled in the latest quarter on a one-time gain from a stock exchange with Liberty Media Corp.

The media conglomerate, which owns Twentieth Century Fox, Fox News Channel and Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal, earned $2.69 billion or 91 cents per share. That compares with $871 million or 27 cents per share a year ago.

Revenue rose 16 percent to $8.75 billion from $7.53 billion

The latest results were lifted by the gain of $1.7 billion from a stock exchange with Liberty, which wound up transferring News Corp.’s controlling interest in the satellite broadcaster DirecTV Group Inc. to the Colorado-based media company.

Newspaper earnings rose 38 percent on higher advertising revenue from the company’s Australian newspapers, lower costs from its papers in the United Kingdom and the inclusion of Dow Jones, which the company acquired last December.

Earnings from TV and movie production fell 36 percent, partly on higher distribution costs from new movies including “Horton Hears a Who!” and “Jumper.”

Satellite television company DirecTV said Wednesday its first-quarter earnings rose 10.4 percent, as it acquired more subscribers and customers spent more on high-definition and video recording services.

DirecTV Group Inc. said net income climbed to $371 million, or 32 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31. That’s up from $336 million, or 27 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 17 percent to $4.59 billion from $3.91 billion.

DirecTV has 17.1 million U.S. subscribers. They pay an average of $79.70 a month, up 8.6 percent from a year ago.

It has 3.5 million subscribers in Latin America, where the average monthly bill is $53.52, thanks to a weak U.S. currency and growth in Venezuela and Argentina.

Marsh & McLennan lost money in the first quarter as the insurance broker’s corporate security business lost value, the company said Wednesday.

Marsh & McLennan lost $210 million, or 40 cents per share, in the first quarter. In the first quarter last year, Marsh & McLennan earned $268 million, or 49 cents per share.

The company attributed the loss mainly to a $425 million “asset impairment” charge incurred by Marsh’s corporate security firm, Kroll.

Marsh is examining whether to sell off pieces of Kroll, which the company bought in 2004 for $1.9 billion – more than it’s now worth, according to a company analysis. Certain of Kroll’s business lines do not fit with Marsh, the company said, and would be worth more as separate companies.

The bright spot was Marsh & McLennan’s consulting business, Mercer, which reported 15 percent revenue growth to $1.3 billion.

The world’s third-biggest sporting goods and apparel company, said Wednesday that its first-quarter profit slipped even though sales were up.

Germany-based Puma AG earned 90.1 million euros ($139.9 million) in the January-March period, compared with 96.6 million euros last year.

Global sales were up half a percent without the effects of currency fluctuations, but fell to 741.2 million euros ($1.2 billion) in the period from 762.1 million euros a year ago because of the strong euro, which has risen nearly 8.5 percent in value against the U.S. dollar in the first three months of 2008.

Sales increased nearly 10 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Asian sales were up 13.3 percent.

Puma said footwear sales in the Americas were below last year, but accessories and apparel sales were up.

Puma also said orders for the U.S. by the end of the quarter were down 20.8 percent.

Europe’s largest shipbuilder said its net profit for continuing operations in the first quarter declined 83 percent from a year earlier due to an increase in operating expenses in a heated shipbuilding market.

Aker Yards ASA said its net profit for January through March was 41 million kroner ($8.2 million) compared with 242 million kroner a year earlier, excluding the accounts of three shipyards that were split off into a joint venture during the quarter.

The group reported an 8.7 percent increase in first quarter operating income to 7.47 billion kroner ($1.49 billion) from a year earlier. However, operating costs shot up 12.6 percent in the same period, reaching 7.26 billion kroner ($1.45 billion) in the first quarter.

The company said high demand for skilled labor had driven up wage costs, and that delays by suppliers had also caused greater expense.

The group has about 21,000 employees at shipyards in Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Romania, Vietnam and Ukraine.