Shares of Broadwing Inc., parent of Cincinnati Bell, jumped 8 percent Thursday after the company reported a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss.

        The telecommunications company's shares closed at $22.99, up $1.79, after reporting a net loss for the three months ending March 31 of $34 million, or 17 cents a share, versus a loss of $56.3 million, or 28 cents a share a year ago.

        The company was expected to lose 19 cents a share, according to a survey of analysts by First Call/Thomson Financial.

        Excluding non-recurring items, Broadwing reported a net loss of 15 cents a share versus 30 cents a year ago.

        Broadwing's total revenues increased 26 percent to $578.3 million from $460.2 million a year ago, led by a 56 percent rise in revenues from Cincinnati Bell Wireless and a 40 percent increase in broadband services.

        The company said Cincinnati Bell Wireless added 40,000 subscribers in the period, giving it 379,000 customers — an estimated 28 percent — in the Cincinnati-Dayton wireless market.

        Revenues for Cincinnati Bell Telephone increased 7 percent to $205 million, and operating earnings increased twice as fast to $104 million. Zoomtown, the company's high-speed Internet service, ended the quarter with more than 45,000 subscribers.

        In other reports:

        • Chemed Corp.: Lower earnings from its Roto-Rooter Inc. subsidiary depressed first-quarter earnings for the Cincinnati-based service provider.

        For the three months ended March 31, Chemed reported net income of $4.5 million, or 46 cents a share, down from $4.9 million, or 49 cents a share. Both periods included capital gains on investments of about $700,000, or 7 cents a share.

        Revenues increased to $123.3 million from $121.5 million a year ago.

        The company said Roto-Rooter, its largest subsidiary, had net income of $4.1 million, 13 percent below last year, because of slower growth after two strong years and an after-tax loss on the sale of a nonperforming heating and air conditioning branch.

        • General Cable Corp.: The Highland Heights-based cable manufacturer reported first-quarter net income of $11.5 million, or 35 cents a share, including after-tax gains of $2.7 million, mainly from the sale of its Pyrotenax business. Excluding those one-time gains, the company reported net income of $8.8 million, or 27 cents a share.

        In the same period last year, the company reported a net loss of $9 million, or 26 cents a share. Revenues were essentially flat at $562 million, versus $566.4 million a year ago.

        The company said profits improved because a higher proportion of revenues came from more-profitable communications cable and because of productivity improvements.

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