Third quarter sales at The Knot rise 4% to $28.2 million

Third quarter sales for online wedding merchandise retailer and lifestage media company The Knot Inc. largely improved on Q3 2008.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, The Knot reported:

• Total revenue was $28.2 million, up 4% from $27.0 million in the year-ago quarter.
• Revenue from wedding supplies rose 30% to $7.5 million from $5.8 million.
• National online advertising revenue was $5.4 million, down by 3.6% from $5.6 million.
• Local online advertising revenue was $8.8 million, up by 6% compared with $8.3 million.
• Net income for the quarter was $771,000 compared to $2.2 million, largely as the result of declining interest rates on the company’s cash and investments, the company says.

“Operationally, our focus is shifting from upgrading our systems to new product development, which we believe will allow us to uniquely capitalize on opportunities created by shifting media usage and a changing competitive landscape during this economic downturn,” says CEO David Liu.

For the first nine months of fiscal 2009, The Knot reports:

• Total revenue was $81.4 million, up by about 2.4% from $79.5 million in the prior year period.
• Revenue from the sale of wedding supplies was $20.7 million, an 18.3% increase from $17.5 million.
• National online advertising revenue was $15.3 million, down by 2.5% from $15.7 million.
• Local online advertising revenue was $25.9 million, a 5.3% increase from $24.6 million.
• Net income was $1.2 million, compared with net income of $5.1 million.