Quebecor's Q1 profits drop 50%

MONTREAL – Declining newspaper advertising revenue in Quebecor’s news media division sent the company’s first quarter profits plunging, despite increased revenue from its telecommunications business. Quebecor recorded Q1 2013 profit of $35.6 million, or $0.57 per basic share, on revenues of $1.05 billion, basically half of Q1 2012’s profit of $71.4 million, or $1.13 per basic share. Overall revenues decreased by 0.9% to $1.05 billion. While Quebecor’s telecommunications revenue increased by 3.6% to $23.0 million, that was offset by sharper declines in news media (down 10.9%), leisure and entertainment (down 9.4%), broadcasting (down 2.1%), and interactive technologies and communications (down...