Kaplan Unit Boosts Post Co. Profit

The Washington Post Co. yesterday reported that profit in the first quarter increased to $66.6 million ($6.87 per share) from $59.4 million ($6.15) in the comparable quarter a year earlier, due primarily to increased operating profit at its Kaplan education division. Revenue increased to $833.9 million from $759 million, despite a 22 percent decline in ad sales at Newsweek.

The company's first-quarter results included a non-operating, after-tax gain from the sale of land and securities of $5.4 million (56 cents).

Revenue for the growing Kaplan education division increased 26 percent, to $325.4 million, while operating income increased 58 percent, to $32.6 million. The division includes prep courses for standardized tests and online higher education classes and career training.

At the company's flagship newspaper, The Washington Post, ad revenue increased to $145.7 million from $142.1 million, but operating income fell due to an 11 percent jump in newsprint costs. Circulation continued to decline, with The Post's daily and Sunday circulation falling 3.8 percent to 704,700 and 3.1 percent to 993,000, respectively. Higher ad sales boosted revenue 27 percent at the division's online publishing unit, mostly washingtonpost.com, to $17 million.

Revenue for the company's television broadcasting division and its cable television unit each increased 4 percent in the quarter.

· Mills Corp., the Arlington-based developer of malls and entertainment complexes, reported strong first-quarter revenue, but profit dropped 88 percent, largely because of a change in how the company accounts for joint ventures.

Because of the accounting change, which the company announced in February, the company restated its results for 2002 and 2003 and its quarterly reports for 2004. Under the new accounting regime, company officials said, its earnings for 2004 increased and its earnings for 2003 decreased.

For the first quarter of 2005, Mills reported a loss of $4.8 million (7 cents a share), compared with restated earnings of $94.1 million ($1.45) in the comparable quarter a year earlier. Revenue increased to $176.9 million from $98.8 million.

· Fairchild Corp., the McLean-based company that distributes aircraft parts and operates a sports-clothing business in Europe, reported a narrower first-quarter loss that it attributed partly to currency gains.

Fairchild lost $3.9 million (15 cents a share), compared with a loss of $12.7 million (50 cents) in the same period of 2004. The company said the results were driven by a sales gain -- $84.6 million, up from $80.1 million.

The company recorded a $2.7 million gain from the market value of an interest-rate contract and said that a weaker dollar relative to the euro improved results from its European operations.