Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI)
Gannett Co. Inc., the publisher of USA Today, has released its first-quarter earnings report for the period ended Mar. 31, 2018. The company reported its earnings hours before the bell on Monday.
The company issued a full-year revenue guidance of between $2.93B to $3.03B. GCI stock was not yet active in premarket trading, but has gained 18% in the last twelve months.
GCI Earnings & Outlook
Gannett’s 2018 first-quarter operating revenues stood at $723.0M, versus $773.5M in the same period last year. The revenues received a boost of $7.5M from favorable changes in exchange rates of foreign currencies.
Same store adjusted operating revenues went down 7.2%, versus the 8.8% decline in Q4 of 2017. The company attributed the improvement to stronger strategic subscriber pricing programs and digital advertising revenues.
Total digital revenues shot to $255.5 million or 9%. Adjusted EBITDA stood at $55.1M, versus $69.7M in Q1 of 2017.
GAAP net loss was $0.4M, including $14.4M of asset impairment charges, after-tax restructuring and other costs. The company reported adjusted quarterly earnings per share of 13 cents.
Gannett CEO Comments
Gannett President and Chief Executive Robert J. Dickey made the following remarks in regards to the company’s performance: “We are pleased with the momentum we saw this quarter in digital advertising revenues, which reached 43.6% of total advertising revenues in the quarter. Overall, first quarter results were ahead of our expectations driven by solid growth in digital advertising revenues, especially within the digital marketing services category.”
The company’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, Ali Engel also touched on the results saying: “We also experienced lower than expected costs in the quarter primarily driven by favorable savings in compensation and benefits. This quarter’s strong results are a testament to our continued focus on efficiencies to drive steady cash flow, while also investing for our future. Finally, we were pleased to complete a $200 million convertible debt financing in early April that provides us continued flexibility to execute on our strategic transformation.”
Gannett Co. Inc. Company Profile
Gannett engages in the provision of marketing and media services. The company has two segments: ReachLocal and Publishing. The firm provides digital and print non-daily and daily publications in the United States under the USA Today Network.
Gannett also runs the Newsquest network, which has online and print publications portfolio of about 80 magazines and 170 news brands in the UK. The operations of the company consist of 130 daily digital platforms and publications in the UK and the US; and 159 non-daily publications in the UK and 435 such titles in the US.
The company also offers commercial distribution, printing, data, and marketing services. Additionally, Gannett provides digital marketing solutions consisting ReachSocial Ads, ReachSearch, ReachRetargeting, ReachDisplay, ReachCast, TotalLiveChat, ReachEdge, and ReachListings.
The products and solutions that the company provides are available through its sales force, third-party resellers, and agencies. Gannett also has operations in Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, Germany, New Zealand, and Austria. The headquarters of the Gannett Co. Inc. is located in McLean, Virginia. The company was previously called Gannett SpinCo, Inc. before changing to its current name in 2015. –Reuters
