Gannett Co. Inc., parent company of The Des Moines Register, said today that its quarterly revenues fell because of weaker advertising sales at its U.S. papers while profits rose with the sale of some newspaper assets, Reuters reported.

The results are the first in what is likely to be a dismal parade of earnings from U.S. newspaper publishers because of falling ad sales and the departure of readers to the Internet, industry analysts said.

Gannett’s second-quarter net income rose to $365.7 million, or $1.56 a share, from $310.5 million, or $1.31, a year ago. Revenues fell to $1.93 billion from $2 billion.

Earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.24 during the quarter, compared with $1.28 last year. That beat the average analyst estimate of $1.22 a share, according to Reuters estimates. Gannett’s newspaper ad sales last month fell 6.2 percent from last year, with local, national and classified revenue down.

For the quarter, Gannett recorded an after-tax gain of 31 cents per share from the sale of four newspapers and the donation of one paper to the Gannett Foundation. It also recorded income of 1 cent per share from discontinued operations.