Gannett Executives Present to Media and Entertainment Analysts of New York
NEW YORK, NY – In a presentation to the Media and Entertainment Analysts of New York today, Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) Chairman and CEO Craig Dubow and members of the company’s senior management team reported continued favorable revenue trends and provided updates on progress the company is making on various strategic initiatives.
Dubow noted that the company has been executing on two fronts: driving the innovation and culture change that are required to better position the company as well as finding and creating the efficiencies that are fundamentally changing its business operations.
“Efforts have been undertaken across every area of the company: content gathering, production, distribution and sales. The results we have achieved were all completed in an extremely tough operating environment. With the stabilization of the economy, we are already experiencing a positive impact on results,” said Dubow.
Gracia Martore, President, COO and CFO, highlighted the company’s results year-to-date and provided an outlook on revenue trends.
“The momentum we had as we ended the fourth quarter last year has continued into the first quarter. We have seen improving revenue trends as we consistently close the gap in our year-over-year comparisons. The percentage decline of ad revenues in our publishing segment is expected be in the high single digits in the first quarter while broadcasting revenue growth will be up in the mid-teens.”
Martore also provided earnings per share guidance for the first quarter. “Based on current revenue trends and the impact of our efficiency efforts and cost restructuring, we are clearly comfortable with the first quarter First Call consensus of earnings estimates of 40 cents per share,” said Martore. “We are seeing more revenue drop to the bottom line which is fueling strong cash flow. As a result, the company expects to reduce debt by well over $200 million in the quarter and will end the first quarter with a debt balance of approximately $2.8 billion.”
Chris Saridakis, chief digital officer and senior vice president discussed the positioning of the company’s marketing services companies and their continued revenue growth and profitability.
Management also announced that USA TODAY has been chosen as one of the initial launch content applications for the new iPAD and plans a substantial promotional launch campaign next month. The company also commented on USA TODAY’s new partnership with Starbucks.
The Webcast of the presentation will be available under “Investor Relations” at www.gannett.com through April 1, 2010. A transcript of the presentation will be archived in the “Investor Relations” section of the company’s Web site.
Also, the company said it began distributing the 2009 Annual Report and proxy statement to shareholders. Both the annual report and the proxy statement are available on its Web site, www.gannett.com.
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) is an international news and information company operating on multiple platforms including the Internet, mobile, newspapers, magazines and TV stations. Gannett is an Internet leader with hundreds of newspaper and TV Web sites; CareerBuilder.com, the nation’s top employment site; USATODAY.com; and more than 80 local MomsLikeMe.com sites. Gannett publishes 83 daily U.S. newspapers, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper, and more than 650 magazines and other non-dailies including USA WEEKEND. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in 19 U.S. markets. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company with 17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a network of Web sites.
Certain statements in this press release may be forward looking in nature or “forward looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward looking statements contained in this press release are subject to a number of risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual performance to differ materially from these forward looking statements. A number of those risks, trends and uncertainties are discussed in the company’s SEC reports, including the company’s annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Any forward looking statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important risk factors.
For media inquiries, contact:
Robin Pence
Vice President of Corporate Communications
(703) 854-6049
rpence@gannett.com
For investor inquiries, contact:
Jeffrey Heinz
Director, Investor Relations
(703) 854-6917
jheinz@gannett.com