Gannett 1Q Profit Falls 5.9%

Gannett Inc

reported a 5.9% drop in net income to $31.29 million from $33.25 million in the same quarter last year. Similarly, its earnings also dipped 10.3% to $0.26 a share from $0.29 a share in the previous year quarter. This was significantly higher than the Street analysts' expectations of $0.14 a share. The company's revenue fell 8.1% to $659.37 million from $717.36 million in the year-ago quarter. However, this was lower than the analysts' predictions of $672.07 million. Gannett's President and CEO, Robert Dickey, said, "We are pleased to report strong first quarter results led by ongoing efforts to improve our cost position. The company was successful in accelerating certain printing and distribution improvements into the quarter, generating several million dollars in savings sooner in 2016 than were expected." He continued to add that "With the completion of the acquisition of JMG, we are beginning to integrate these two great companies, leverage the best of each of our journalistic talents, and look for additional combined cost improvement opportunities. In addition, programs put in place to improve revenue trends are beginning to show positive results. These programs have been focused on maximizing viewability and duration of ad play for advertisers, improving circulation retention, and maximizing national digital advertising opportunities and programmatic ad sales." On April 8, the company completed its acquisition of Journal Media Group for approximately $260 million, net of cash acquired. The company funded the transaction by borrowing $250 million from its revolving credit facility, as well as, available cash on hand. As a result, the company would update its full year outlook at the time of releasing its second quarter results. In the pre-market trading on Wednesday, the stock traded 6.6% higher.