Dow Jones Newswires | R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. said its fourth-quarter loss narrowed on much smaller write-downs from a
year earlier, but the Chicago printing-services company’s core earnings
declined — though less than analysts’ anticipated.

The earnings data came as Donnelley announced Tuesday a deal to buy New
York printer Bowne & Co. for $481 million, or $11.50 a share, a 65
percent premium to Tuesday’s closing price. The companies said they
hope to close the deal in the second half of this year.

Donnelley has struggled as publishers cut back on print runs for magazines, catalogs and books, moved business to the Internet or eliminated titles completely. Overcapacity has been another problem, keeping prices low and competition intense. R.R. Donnelley has grown through acquisitions, buying up smaller companies for at least a decade in a move to increase efficiency and broaden its portfolio, but it increased debt to do so.

R.R. Donnelley posted a loss of $78.6, or 39 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $684.2 million, or $3.35 a share. Excluding restructuring charges and write-downs, earnings fell to 46 cents from 63 cents as revenue slid 7.6 percent to $2.58 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted earnings of 43 cents on revenue of $2.54 billion.

Gross margin fell to 23.3 percent from 24 percent.

U.S. sales, the company’s primary focus, dropped 11%, while international revenue grew 3.4 percent.

R.R. Donnelley shares closed at $20.51 Tuesday and weren’t active in off-hours trading. The stock, which hit all-time low in March, has more than doubled in the past year.