U.S. newspaper publisher McClatchy Co. announced a US$37.5 million first quarter net loss, citing the advertising downturn and costs from laying off employees, Reuters reported Thursday.

The loss amounts to around 45 cents per share. Last year the company saw a first quarter net loss of $849,000, around 1 cent a share. Revenue also declined 25 percent at $365.6 million.

The announcement comes on top of a delisting notice from the New York Stock Exchange earlier this week, as the company's share price spent more than 30 days below $1.

The loss for the California based company, publisher of The Miami Herald and The Sacramento Bee, reflects similar first quarter numbers posted by publishers, Gannett Co. Inc. and The New York Times Co., Reuters reported.

The company has suffered on the back of $19.7 million worth of severance costs, the reorganisation of $2 billion worth of debt from its 2006 purchase of the Knight Ridder chain of newspapers and a 29.5 percent decline in ad revenue, which included a 5 percent fall in online ad spending, according to Reuters.

The company has taken drastic measures in an attempts to cut costs, including axing 1,600 employees, executive pay cuts of between 10 percent and 15 percent and the suspension of its cash dividends.

"The economic environment is still weak and, like everyone else, our visibility on advertising trends is limited," Chief Executive Gary Pruitt said in a statement, according to Reuters.

McClatchy paid off $31 million worth of debt earlier this month and plans to use its cash to continue to clear its outstanding payments.