R.H. Donnelley Restates Earnings Downward

R.H. Donnelley Corp., the largest independent marketer of yellow pages advertising, restated its earnings for 1997, 1998 and part of 1999 to change the way it records revenue for some directories in its agreement with Sprint Corp. R.H. Donnelley generates revenue from commissions on the sale of phone directory advertising and a share of income from the Sprint partnership, which publishes the directory. R.H. Donnelley restated 1998 earnings at $1.38 a share, and 1997 earnings at $1.24, each down 1 cent. The company also will take a $2.7-million charge for periods before 1997. The company said the accounting change will have no effect on its cash flow and won’t affect full-year 1999 per-share earnings. For the 1999 second quarter, R.H. Donnelly reported net income of $16.9 million, or 49 cents a share, up 7% from a year ago and 1 cent better than estimates, as revenue rose 5.5% to $40.1 million. R.H. Donnelley stock rose 6 cents to close at $18.56 on the NYSE. Its results were reported after the close of U.S. trading.