Gannett Executives Speak at Mid-Year Media Review
NEW YORK, NY – Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI) president and CEO Craig Dubow and other Gannett executives today reported at the Mid-Year Media Review on the company’s performance to date in 2006 and the outlook for the remainder of the year.
“As we enter our second 100 years, we are setting the stage for a transformation at Gannett. We will focus our efforts on providing information consumers want in a way they want it – rather than deciding for them. We see opportunities to deliver our content to consumers in new and exciting ways,” he said.
He also reported that results for the company’s domestic community newspapers and its broadcasting segment were positive while its operations in the UK continue to experience soft ad demand.
Sue Clark-Johnson, president of the Newspaper Division, said the Division’s audience aggregation efforts are gaining traction. “Audience aggregation extends our footprint and brand in the market. It is a successful strategy that positions us as a mass medium while demonstrating our ability to reach select targets.” She also noted that the Division is aggressively implementing hyper-local print and Web products geared toward specific communities. They add to overall audience, provide results for advertisers and the local content readers and viewers want, she said.
Clark-Johnson said ad revenue growth at the domestic newspapers was trending upward although advertising revenue across the country has been mixed.
Roger Ogden, president and CEO of Gannett Broadcasting, said: “The key to our success has been, and will continue to be, the quality of our local newscasts.” Also, he said the most positive results continue to come from new business development activity and online. He expects political advertising to be healthy in the second half of the year. He noted, however, difficult pacing in some key categories is anticipated.
Craig Moon, president and publisher of USA TODAY, said he expects positive ad revenue growth in the second quarter. He also noted that based on MRI’s spring 2006 study, USA TODAY reached over 5.2 million readers, an increase of 1 percent. In addition, USA TODAY.com’s advertising revenue was up nearly 16 percent year-to-date and its May online audience was up more than 10 percent. “The media landscape continues to change as news consumption habits are changing” and USA TODAY is developing new initiatives including blogs, podcasting, and mobile phone content to meet those challenges.
Gracia Martore, executive vice president and chief financial officer, provided updated UK results and several operating assumptions including newsprint and debt. She said the company believes it will achieve the First Call consensus of $1.31 per share for the second quarter of 2006. However, she noted, that depending on business conditions for the remainder of the period, the number could be impacted by a penny or two.
Speeches by the Gannett executives will be available by Webcast until July 21. 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 90 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.
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:
Jeffrey Heinz
Director, Investor Relations
703-854-6917
jheinz@gannett.com
For media inquiries:
Tara Connell
Vice President of Corporate Communications
(703) 854-6049
tjconnel@gannett.com