June 16, 2004 -- (Analysis by Dr. Joe Webb, WTT Commentator) -- Despite sales being down, printing profits as reported by the Commerce Department were up for the first quarter. Profits before income taxes were $1.4 billion, or 6% of industry shipments. These are the highlights: -- profits before income taxes were up 70% from the prior quarter -- they were more than twice the profit before income taxes of Q1 of 2003 -- this was the best Q1 since Q1 of 2000 Also of note: return on equity before income tax was of 32.9%--well above the running average of 22.2%. Return on equity after tax was 27.6%, also above the running average of 15.7%. A discussion of this report will be included in this week's “Fridays with Dr. Joe” column. Dr. Joe will also be discussing this report in the context of the overall economic situation for the printing industry in the upcoming economic webinar scheduled for Wednesday, June 23rd, at 2 PM Eastern. To sign up for this event visit - http://members.whattheythink.com/home/webinar.cfm