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This article was published 12/3/2015 (2018 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The company that owns the Winnipeg Free Press, Brandon Sun and a number of other Manitoba media products has reported a slight increase in profit for the fourth quarter on revenues that declined by 6.8 per cent.

Revenue for FP Newspapers Limited Partnership (FPLP) was $26.2 million. EBITDA (earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) was up 2.5 per cent in the quarter to $6.1 million and net earnings were $4.6 million, up 2.2 per cent.

For the year, revenue at FPLP was $99 million, also down 6.8 per cent from the previous year.

FP Newspapers Inc., the publicly traded entity which owns securities entitling it to 49 per cent of the distributable cash from FPLP, reported profit of $1.6 million for the quarter, a 3.7 per cent increase from the same period the year before.

For the year end, FP Newspapers Inc. had profits of $4 million, down from $4.9 million in 2013.

Digital revenue up

While revenue was down at FPLP, which also owns the The Carillon in Steinbach and the Carberry News Express, operating expenses were also down — 8.6 per cent for the fourth quarter and 5.3 per cent for the year.

Digital revenue increased by $200,000 or 15.7 per cent and is expected to continue to increase by 10 to 15 per cent.

The Winnipeg Free Press is planning to limit access to free content on its digital product line during the second quarter of 2015 and a new revenue stream from digital subscriptions and single-article purchases will be introduced.