Gannett Executives Speak at Mid-Year Media Review
NEW YORK, NY – Executives of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) said at the Mid-Year Media Review today that they expect the economy to grow in the second half of 2004, but continue to caution that the recovery will be uneven.
Douglas H. McCorkindale, chairman, president and CEO of Gannett noted the company’s solid results year-to-date for all of its operating divisions and commented specifically on the strong performance of its UK operations.
Further, Mr. McCorkindale said: “We are continuing to invest in our strategy to expand our presence in the communities we serve through a variety of new products and initiatives.”
Gary Watson, president of the Newspaper Division, said the strategy to grow revenues from online and non-daily publications is working well. “We now have more than 500 complementary print products that are adjuncts to our daily newspapers.”
Craig Dubow, president and CEO of Gannett Broadcasting, said that he is “encouraged heading into the second half of 2004.” He said the division expects to get a boost from the Olympics in August and to garner a strong share of political advertising due to Gannett’s television stations’ overall ratings strength in local news.
Craig Moon, president and publisher of USA TODAY, said circulation and readership of USA TODAY continue to grow. “Our 4 percent gain in the Spring 2004 MRI book is clearly the best performance in our competitive set.” Further, USA TODAY.com was Nielsen//NetRatings fastest growing news and information site for the past four months. Moon also announced USA TODAY would raise its single copy price to 75 cents on Sept. 7.
Gracia Martore, senior vice president and chief financial officer, updated several operating assumptions and said the company anticipates that it will achieve earnings per share for the second quarter in the $1.28 to $1.30 range, consistent with many of the current expectations. However, she did indicate the last few days of the quarter would be important.
Speeches by the Gannett executives will be available by Webcast until July 20. The Webcast archive is accessible through www.midyearmediareview.com or through www.gannett.com.
Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 101 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns more than 500 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 22 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.
Gannett is not responsible for updating the information contained in this press release beyond the published date, or for changes made to this press release by wire services, Internet service providers or other media.
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