Time Warner net income falls

NEW YORK — Time Warner said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter net income dropped 12%, as investments in programming and other costs offset revenue growth.

But the New York-based media and entertainment company's adjusted profit beat Wall Street predictions. Its shares edged higher in premarket trading.

Time Warner also said that it still expects to complete the spinoff of its Time Inc. publishing division into a separate company in the second quarter.

Time Warner earned $983 million, or $1.06 per share, compared with $1.11 billion, or $1.15 per share, in the same quarter the year before.

Excluding one-time items, the company posted an adjusted profit of $1.17 per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected $1.15 per share.

Revenue rose 5% to $8.57 billion from $8.16 billion. Analysts expected $8.38 billion in revenue.

For the full year 2013, Time Warner earned $3.69 billion, or $3.92 per share, up from $2.93 billion, or $3 per share, in 2012. Revenue rose to $29.8 billion from $28.73 billion.

Excluding Time Inc., the company said it expects its 2014 adjusted earnings per share to rise by the "low-double-digits" from their 2013 level.

The company also said that its board approved a 10% increase to its quarterly cash dividend, boosting it to 31.75 cents.

In premarket trading, Time Warner shares rose 85 cents to $63.25 about two hours ahead of the market open.