Continued weakness in advertising sales led Gannett Co. Inc.’s profits to fall 60 percent to $77.4 million, or 34 cents per share, in the 13 weeks ended March 29, compared with $191.8 million, or 84 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

In the first quarter, the company had a $39.8 million pre-tax settlement gain related to one of its union pension plans and $6.6 million in pre-tax severance and facility-related consolidations costs. Excluding these one-time items, the company earned 25 cents per share.

“Although business conditions remain very challenging,” said company Chairman, President and CEO Craig Dubow in a release, “we continue to transform all facets of the company as we position it for a more favorable economic environment and the opportunities we see in the changing media landscape.”

Operating expenses declined 10.2 percent to $1.2 billion as the company reduced staff, implemented furloughs for the current quarter and reached a pension settlement. However, restructuring expenses cut into some of the cost savings.

Publishing revenues were down 26.9 percent to $1.1 billion, with advertising revenues 34.1 percent lower than in the first quarter of 2008. Broadcasting revenues declined to $143.5 million from $170.2 million a year ago because of softer advertising demand, especially in the automotive and retail categories, and little political advertising.

Meanwhile, digital operating revenues skyrocketed to $143.2 million from $13.9 million in 2008, primarily from the consolidation of CareerBuilder and ShopLocal results into company totals. The company also acquired Ripple6 in November 2008.

Gannett is not the only publisher to be hit by a decline in advertising revenues. According to the Publishers Information Bureau’s first-quarter figures, the more than 230 publications it tracks reported an average drop in advertising sales of 20.6 percent and a 26.1 percent decline in advertising pages.

One of the few titles to see positive numbers was Meredith Corp.’s Family Circle, which posted an 11 percent gain in first-quarter ad revenues and a 5.4 percent increase in ad pages.