Gannett 2Q net income falls 5 pct, revenue flat

MCLEAN, Virginia (AP) Gannett Co., the owner of USA Today and other newspapers and television stations, said Monday that net income fell 5 percent in the most recent quarter as newspaper advertising revenue fell and the company took charges for job cuts and other restructuring costs.

Gannett earned $113.6 million, or 48 cents per share, in the second quarter, compared with $119.9 million, or 51 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding the restructuring costs, Gannett said it had profit of 58 cents per share in the April-June quarter, which matched the average estimate of analysts surveyed by FactSet. A year ago, adjusted profit was 56 cents per share.

Revenue was $1.30 billion, compared with $1.31 billion a year ago. Analysts expected $1.33 billion.

Gannett's stock fell 58 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $25.78 in afternoon trading after the release of results.

Gannett said it got a boost from higher subscription revenue from printed newspapers and their websites. Last year, the company began charging readers for online access to news content at most of its newspaper websites. The subscription model is designed to help balance the continued decline in advertising revenue.

Print and online circulation revenue from publishing grew 6 percent to $279.7 million, while advertising revenue from publishing fell 5 percent to $562.5 million. Overall, publishing revenue fell nearly 2 percent to $904.2 million.

Broadcasting revenue rose 3 percent to $212 million. Gannett is working to shift its focus from newspapers to the television stations. Unlike newspapers, local TV stations have become a magnet for political ad spending in election years. In addition, cable and satellite TV providers have been increasing fees they pay to companies such as Gannett so they can include their local TV stations in cable and satellite TV lineups.

In June, Gannett announced plans to buy Belo Corp. and its 20 television stations for about $1.5 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. The move will nearly double Gannett's portfolio of stations from 23 to 43, reaching nearly one-third of U.S. households.

Digital revenue, which excludes revenue from newspaper and television websites, rose 3 percent to $186.5 million, mainly because of higher revenue from the company's job-seeking site, CareerBuilder.

Companywide digital revenue increased 20 percent to $374.3 million. It got a boost from higher subscription revenue, along with increases in digital advertising and marketing revenue.