Gannett Executives Present to the Media and Entertainment Analysts of New York
McLEAN, VA – Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) President and CEO Craig A. Dubow and other Gannett executives today reported on the company’s performance to date in 2006 and the outlook for the remainder of the first quarter, at a presentation to the Media and Entertainment Analysts of New York.
“Gannett is rising to the challenges presented thus far in 2006 with new business initiatives and a renewed emphasis on the delivery of highly desirable local news and local content,” Dubow said. “It is an exciting time for us and we see plenty of opportunity to enhance our core assets and create a successful digital business to ensure Gannett’s status as a premier growth company.”
Dubow also noted the company’s broadcasting segment had a solid start to the year, driven by the Winter Olympic Games on its NBC stations and the Super Bowl on its ABC stations. “New business development continues to be one of our most important revenue-generating priorities, especially as the competitive landscape continues to change,” Dubow said. Revenues from these Broadcast efforts are expected to exceed last year’s first quarter by approximately 40 percent.
Sue Clark-Johnson, president of the Newspaper Division said ad revenues were up for the first two months. Across all product lines, real estate was strong and employment is growing. “We continue our efforts to aggregate and monetize our audiences. On average, among the markets tested, we reach about eight in ten adults over seven days,” she said.
Craig Moon, president and publisher of USA TODAY, said online advertising revenue for the first quarter is expected to increase in the mid-teens over the first quarter a year ago. “Our round-the-clock coverage of the Winter Olympics showcased our newest initiatives to increase user interaction, involvement and time with our products,” he said. The coverage included blogs, podcasts, interactive graphics, video and photo galleries.
Gracia Martore, senior vice president and chief financial officer, discussed the company’s UK operations saying, “Offsetting the lower revenues, significant cost control initiatives are in place and once this cyclical downturn reverses, our UK operations will be poised to contribute significantly to the bottom line.”
“The company expects earnings per share for the first quarter of 2006 to be at the bottom end of the current range of $0.98 to $1.02 of most analysts’ estimates,” Martore said.
The Webcast of the presentation will be available under “Investor Relations” at www.gannett.com through April 6, 2006. The presentation will be archived in the “Investor Relations” section of the company’s Web site.
Also, the company said it began distributing the 2005 Annual Report and proxy statement to shareholders. Both the annual report and the proxy statement are available on its Web site, www.gannett.com.
To access the documents, look under “Investor Relations” and click on annual reports or proxy statement.
Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 91 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 1,000 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes more than 300 titles, including 17 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 21 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.
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 investor inquiries, contact:
Jeff Heinz
Director, Investor Relations
(703) 854-6917
jheinz@gannett.com
For media inquiries, contact:
Tara Connell
Vice President of Corporate Communications
(703) 854-6049
tjconnel@gannett.com