S&P: Washington Post on watch

Standard & Poor's said it placed Washington Post Co.'s A long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured ratings and A-1 short-term commercial paper rating on CreditWatch with negative implications.

The watch listing reflects a concern that declining revenues and EBITDA will continue in the company's Kaplan higher education business, which currently accounts for roughly half of total EBITDA, S&P said.

The Washington Post's credit quality has relied on the company's mix of education and media businesses, strong profitability, low debt leverage, good discretionary cash flow generation and ample excess liquidity, the agency said.

While S&P said it does not anticipate significant weakening of the company's healthy financial profile, it will assess the prospects for the education business and the level of support this unit can provide the rating, in light of the weak outlook for higher education segment operating performance.

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