Arbitron Posts Sharp Rise in Q2 Profit

Ratings giant Arbitron has reported revenue growth of 10.4% to $86.8m in the second quarter, from $78.6m in the prior-year period. The company has also maintained its earnings outlook for 2009, while trimming its year-on-year revenue growth forecast.

For the second quarter, net income rose to $3.5m - or 13 cents a share - from $600k - or 2 cents a share - the previous year.

However, for the first half of 2009, while revenue grew 7.3% to $185.3m from $172.7m in Q2 2008; net income dipped to $15.8m from $16.8m last year.

Costs and expenses for the second quarter increased by 4.2%, from $82.4m in 2008 to $85.9m in 2009, due primarily to planned expenditures for the commercialization of the PPM ratings service and the introduction of cellphone-only household sampling in 151 diary markets.

These increases were partly offset by cost reduction initiatives implemented in prior quarters.

President and CEO Michael Skarzynski comments: 'We continue to make the hard choices required to reduce costs and target our resources on initiatives that we believe can best enhance the long-term value of Arbitron's services to the radio industry - deploying the PPM radio ratings service in additional markets, expanding cellphone-only household measurement in PPM and diary markets, and working toward MRC accreditation for the PPM service through our continuous improvement programs'.

For the full year, Arbitron has maintained its outlook of $1.40 to $1.55 per share, but now anticipates that revenue will increase 2% to 6%, compared with a previous forecast of 6% to 10% growth.

Yesterday, shares of Arbitron closed at $17.27 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Web site: www.arbitron.com .