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Gannett Co., Inc. Stock Price: Quote, Forecast, Splits & News (GCI)

Finance

Company Profile

New

Gannett Co., Inc. Price & Performance (GCI)

Stock Performance

Updated Mar 25, 8:00 PM UTC

GCI:NYSE

$3.11USD

1.27% · $0.04

After Hours

+1.29% · $0.04

Open

$3.14

High

$3.15

Low

$3.07

Market Cap

$458.32M

P/E Ratio

-17.3

Volume

996.47K

Year High

$5.93

Year Low

$2.22

News & Market Insights

Gannett Reduces Debt by $57.5 Million Through Asset Sale
Mar 15, 2025
Gannett Co., Inc. has prepaid $57.5 million on its 2029 Term Loan Facility, reducing its first lien debt from $850 million to $792.5 million. The repayment was funded through the sale of the Austin-American Statesman and cash reserves. The company aims to further strengthen its capital structure in 2025.12
IAC Finalizes ANGI Spin-Off Details for Shareholders
Mar 18, 2025
IAC has confirmed its spin-off of ANGI Inc., with a record date of March 25, 2025, and distribution set for March 31. Shareholders will receive ANGI stock at a ratio of approximately 0.8 shares per IAC share. ANGI will trade under 'ANGI,' while IAC continues under 'IAC' on NASDAQ.34
Gannett Names Trisha Gosser as Chief Financial Officer
Mar 18, 2025
Gannett has appointed Trisha Gosser as its new CFO, effective immediately. With over two decades of experience, Gosser will oversee financial operations and strategic planning. She previously served as Deputy CFO and played a key role in Gannett's merger with New Media Investment Group.45

What's Happening

Peers

Earnings

Report Date

Feb 20, 2025

Reported Revenue

621.3M

Avg 1d Change

14.49%

Report Period

Q4 2024

EPS Estimate

—

Implied Move 1d

11.51%

Transcript

10m 29s

Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today to discuss Conant's fourth quarter twenty twenty four financial results. Presenting on today's call will be Mike Reed, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Doug Horn, Chief Financial Officer and Kristen Roberts, Chief Content Officer. If you navigate to the Gannett Web site, you will find that we have posted an earnings supplement in addition to our earlier press release. We will be referencing it today on the call as it provides you with additional detail on this quarter's performance our full year 2025 business outlook. Before we begin, please let me remind you that this call is being recorded. In addition, certain statements made during this call are, may be deemed to be forward looking statements as defined under The U. S. Federal Securities Laws including those with respect to future results, events are based upon current expectations. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results and events to differ materially from those discussed today. We encourage you to read the cautionary statement regarding forward looking statements in the earnings supplement as well as the risk factors described in Gannett's filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

11m 36s

Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or correct any of the forward looking statements made during this call. Please keep in mind, all comparisons are on a year over year basis unless otherwise noted. In addition, we will be discussing non GAAP financial information during the call. Including same store revenues, free cash flow, adjusted EBITDA adjusted EBITDA margin and adjusted net income attributable to Ganet. You can find reconciliations of our non GAAP measures to the most comparable U. S. GAAP measure in the earnings supplement. Lastly, I would like to remind you that nothing on this call constitutes an offer to sell, or solicitation of an offer to purchase any interest in Gannett. The webcast and audiocast are copyrighted material of Gannett and may not be duplicated We produced or rebroadcasted without our prior written consent With that, I would like to turn the call over to Mike Reed, Net's Chairman and CEO. Thank you, Matt. Good morning and thanks for joining our fourth quarter earnings call. I am pleased to share with you details on our fourth quarter and 2024 full year performance and how we expect to build on our momentum in 2025. 2024 represented an important year of progress for Ganet.

12m 49s

We executed strongly against our strategy and achieved a meaningful improvement in our key metrics. But more importantly, we set the foundation for anticipated long term We believe a real transition is underway and our confidence is supported by several milestones that were achieved for the full year of 2024, [indiscernible] significant improvement in same store revenue trends, Full year growth in adjusted EBITDA adjusted net income attributable to Gannett, and free cash flow. And a successful debt refinancing that simplified our capital structure Extended our debt runway and reduced potential future share dilution. It's important to take a moment and recognize how much we have accomplished in total across the past two years. Reflecting on our progress, especially for those following along with the supplement, please refer to Slide six. We've made significant strides across our key metrics. As highlighted on Slide six, over the past two years, we have expanded our total digital mix from 35% to 44%, improved our bottom line by 52,000,000 and increased our cash provided by operating activities and free cash flow by approximately $60,000,000 Overall, the progress highlighted in our results under traction we have gained and further validates our strategic plan. In 2024, adjusted EBITDA increased for the second consecutive year While we simultaneously invested in our digital initiatives, aimed at funding future growth.

14m 36s

Our adjusted EBITDA growth combined with a continued focus on optimizing our working capital also resulted in our second consecutive year of free cash flow growth. Adjusted net income attributable to Gannett rose to $25,000,000 an improvement of 66,000,000 versus a net loss of $41,000,000 in the prior year. We also improved our capital structure and maintained a healthy balance sheet.

15m 4s

Evidenced by our solid cash position at year end. We are excited to carry this momentum into the year ahead. We expect 2025 to be our third consecutive year of adjusted and free cash flow growth along with ongoing improvement in our top line trends. As a result, on a same store basis, we are aiming to hit the inflection point to positive revenue growth during the year. At the core of our momentum is the 2024, total digital revenues increased 5% to approximately $1,100,000,000 three out of our four digital revenue categories experienced year over year growth and as a result, total digital revenues increased to 44% of total revenue up from 39% last year. In 2025, our expectation is that total revenues will make up 50% of our total revenue during the year. Growing between 710% On a same store basis compared to 2024, and importantly, we'll begin to outpace the secular declines we see in our legacy print revenue. We have seen solid progress across several of our digital revenue James total digital revenues continued to grow over the prior year period, One factor that has become evident in our transformation is the importance of Recall that we have the largest digital audience in the nation.

16m 46s

Larger than any other content creator in the media space according to Comscore. With 200,000,000 average monthly unique visitors coming to our platform, in both Q3 and Q4 and growing 7% versus prior year in Q4. This significant digital audience outpaced national TV brands national publishing brands, and certainly the local publishing brands And as we have built scale, we've also improved our engagement with that audience as we have achieved another quarter of double digit page view growth compared to the prior year period. Over the last twelve months, we have successfully grown this audience at scale and moving forward, our focus will be on driving higher engagement and increasing the monetization of that audience. We believe there is significant potential to grow our total digital revenues by further personalizing the consumer journey through strategic tools and tactics along with increasing loyalty and monetization of those consumers that come to our platform. This is expected to unlock greater revenue digital only paid subscriptions, e commerce and video. Which presents a major opportunity for us. Looking specifically at Q4, digital only paid subscriptions continued to grow year over year. Subscription volumes also rose sequentially every quarter in 2024. In Q4, digital only subscription revenue and digital only average revenue per user experienced another quarter of double digit year over year growth.

18m 36s

We expect digital only subscription revenue to be a meaningful to the expected overall digital revenue growth in the near and long term. Opportunity remains as our penetration rates are below benchmark and our ARPU is still below market rates. So we see potential to unlock additional value through pricing optimization leveraging our full product portfolio, and leaning in on local growth. Couple that with the outstanding work the content team has done to provide high quality journalism and broader content experiences and we believe we have a strong value proposition. For both our consumers and advertisers. We are also strengthening the alignment between our [indiscernible] and consumer teams To capture the significant potential to enhance retention and engagement, as well as drive growth in our local core businesses. To do this, we have repositioned our consumer division under Kristen Roberts' leadership. Since joining us as our Chief Content Officer, Kristen's content organization has made a remarkable impact on the domestic and net media segment. Evidenced by significant increases in audience growth page views and readership per story. As we head into 2025, we are confident we can replicate this success within our consumer division. I will now hand it over to Kristen to recap the team's accomplishments in 2024 and what you can expect in 2025. [indiscernible] Thank you, Mike. 2024 was a transformational year for the content team.

20m 24s

We executed on our strategy to rapidly expand our audience and content, amplify our journalism and drive diversified revenue streams. And importantly, we've proven that content can be an engine for growth at Connect. Audience growth was at the heart of our transformation in 2024. By listening to our audience and studying their behavior on platforms, we gained clarity on the content our readers desire. We met them in the middle with trusted news and information. We're listening to what people want, and we believe our strategy is working. We generated twelve consecutive months of at least 1,000,000,000 page views which we view as the baseline for 2025 and expect to grow upon. Equally impressive, the U. S. A2B network ended the year as the leading news and information provider in America as measured by Comscore. None of this was by chance. It was a direct result of our collaborative work to anticipate and deliver the journalism and information that our readers viewers and listeners wanted. The next step of our transformation is engagement. A crucial element of engaging our audience involves understanding their preferences and creating standout experiences around the topics they love on their preferred platforms. This deepens their connection with our products and entices them to take another step in their journey.

21m 53s

Initiatives such as expanding our sports content, and scaling our video strategy will be at the top of our list Let's briefly walk through each of these. We have built what we believe is one of the strongest sports coverage teams in America through One Team Sports, The power of our coverage was evident during the college football and NFL seasons.

22m 17s

Where the USA TODAY network generated over three ninety million page views, an increase of 33% compared to last season. In 2025, we will continue to meet readers where they are to deliver highly engaging sports news and information We also have ambitious plans to become the leading force in women's sports coverage through the USA TODAY network, we reach more women's sports fans than any of our competitors. And we expect to capitalize on that opportunity. We're building an expert content team to drive our push in women's basketball, soccer, softball and beyond. Overall, we believe sports continues to present a promising opportunity to expand our audience, create personalized and relevant experiences and develop journeys that are expected to maximize digital revenue per user and per visit. Another key focus will be expanding our six so many ways that they want more video journalism, and visual content both on our sites and on other platforms, we're here to deliver. With editorially relevant and high quality journalism that meets the mission and extends our reach. We have already seen success from this initiative in 2024 with significant gains in video programming and views from major sporting events such as the Kentucky Derby, Indy five hundred and College World Series.

23m 58s

These results underscore the power of sports video on our network. Now, when March Madness quickly approaching, we plan to expand this strategy. Both in our local markets and nationwide. Importantly, video content meets the habits of our audience, while creating inventory with higher advertising CPMs. To recap, our progress in 2024 was a total team effort, and I want to express my sincere gratitude to the entire team. The most exciting part is that we're just getting started. We have brought together two of the largest teams within Gannett with the intention of increasing efficiency while also Thank you, Kristen.

24m 47s

It's exciting to see the significant audience growth in 2024 and to discuss several of the key initiatives underway to increase engagement and enhance the overall monetization of our content platform. Now turning to our DMS business. In Q4, our performance continued to be influenced by the macro environment along with higher churn among our customer base. We are acutely focused on better serving our customer base across our product suite and are encouraged by the strategic plans and initiatives already underway. Which we believe will return our DMS business to growth during the year. We understand where our growth opportunities lie and we have the ability to win. Some of the initiatives that reinforce our optimism improving underlying account performance by driving high quality leads while minimizing cost per lead for our clients. Improving the client experience through a more nimble, realigned client success organization and through utilizing tools such as DMS zero to more quickly ramp new clients budgets. And enhancing client retention through a more robust and stickier DMS product suite. This includes launching new features and capabilities to enhance product fulfillment, while further leveraging our AI powered solution DASH to optimize campaigns and drive stronger commercial outcomes.

26m 22s

As we scale DASH, and integrate more deeply into our customers' operations, we expect to solidify our position as an indispensable Furthermore, we plan to expand our total addressable market by strategically moving upstream to target large sized businesses. These businesses are seeking integrated solutions And given our proven success in managing multi location accounts, we believe we are well positioned to meet that demand. As we enter 2025, we remain extremely confident in the large and we look forward to restoring our DMS business to growth during the year. Turning to partnerships. In Q4, our partnership revenue continued to grow However, it was tempered by Google's updated and fluid search policies and algorithm changes. Which negatively impacted many media companies, Ginnett included. Working within the revised policies, we leveraged the vast collection of content produced within our network to continue to drive leads and audience to our partners. Search will always be an evolving space, and Google's sudden change reinforces the importance of maintaining flexibility We've heard from our partners the positive impact our speed to market with evolving solutions has had on their business. And ultimately it's highlighted the opportunity of an e commerce business for us built on the content we already produce.

28m 6s

E commerce and affiliate marketing are currently smaller categories for us, But we believe we are well positioned to expand this revenue stream over time. We have a vast portfolio of content that resonates deeply with our audience. Our content is not just informative, it's relevant, essential and highly valuable. Our focus is on creating new ways to monetize the content we already have on our platform. The recently announced bundled content offering with Reuters is a perfect example. The unique offering provides other media brands and publishers with ready to publish news from USA TODAY and The USA TODAY network, at a local, regional, state and national level. As well as content including breaking news, entertainment, sports, and lifestyle coverage delivered in a single news feed. And we will continue to seek out additional opportunities to smartly monetize the vast array of content we already produce. As you can see from our results, we made excellent progress executing on our strategy to drive our digital While transformation such as ours are rarely in a straight line, we continue to make substantial progress on our evolution in key areas. We expanded our digital audience improved engagement through the monetization of our audience and drove significantly improved financial results over the prior year.

29m 51s

We expect top line growth on a same store basis as we progress through 2025 and our solid balance sheet and extended debt maturities are expected to give us the flexibility needed for the coming years. In addition, we have invested in key growth areas that are expected to drive the speed and execution of our transformation. We believe we have a great opportunity as an organization in 2025 and we look forward to capitalizing on. With that, I will now turn the call to Doug to provide additional detail and color around our twenty twenty four fourth quarter 2025 business outlook. So Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everyone.

30m 40s

As Mike mentioned, we are pleased with the progress on our overall revenue trends during 2024. Our success at navigating the market dynamics along the way the significant progress achieved against our strategic priorities For Q4, total operating revenues were $621,300,000 a decrease of 7.2%.

31m 2s

As a reminder, our proactive decisions to sell or shut down non strategic assets in 2024 impacted reported revenue in Q4. Importantly, these actions align with our long term strategy and did not negatively affect our adjusted EBITDA performance.

31m 20s

On a same store basis, revenues decreased 5.5% which was relatively in line with Q3 trends.

31m 27s

As we look ahead, our execution remains focused on cultivating sustainable revenue growth growing our digital audience and customer base, increasing our monetization, and continuing to stabilize our print business. As we continue to execute on these fronts, we are targeting for the pace and magnitude of our revenue trend improvement to accelerate. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $78,200,000 in the fourth quarter, an increase of 5.5% or $4,100,000 Adjusted EBITDA margin was 12.6% in Q4, a 150 basis point improvement compared to the 11.1% in the prior year period.

32m 10s

The growth in adjusted EBITDA was driven by the improved year over year revenue trends and strategic cost controls. On the cost side, we continue to align our expense structure with recent revenue trends.

32m 23s

In Q4, operating expenses decreased approximately 6% reflecting our commitment to prudent cost management. We believe we have additional opportunities to modulate expenses and improve efficiency by further simplifying our operating model, continuing to improve our technology infrastructure utilizing low cost sources of labor and utilizing our third party relationships to create a more variable cost structure.

32m 51s

On the bottom line, we ended the fourth quarter with a net income of $664,300,000.0 and an adjusted net income of $38,300,000 reflecting significant year over year improvements of $87,200,000 and $56,500,000 respectively. Total digital revenues in Q4 reached $280,400,000 up 1.2% or 3.4% on a same store basis.

33m 18s

And accounted for 45.1% of total revenues. Digital advertising increased approximately 2% in Q4, driven by audience page view growth. Moving forward, we are confident that a renewed focus on premium digital inventory and enhanced monetization of our page views will drive stronger growth in 2025. In Q4, our digital only with growth observed across all key metrics.

33m 48s

Digital only subscription revenue rose 17% and digital only ARPU increased approximately 13% in Q4.

33m 56s

Importantly, we achieved these results while also growing digital only paid and year over year The results in print and commercial revenue also saw promise improvements in Q4 driven by the actions we have implemented to enhance the thesis The conversion to mail delivery has proven to be a consistent and effective delivery model to our customers in certain markets. In 2024, we successfully converted 55 markets to mail delivery and we expect more market conversions in 2025. Mail delivery provides a consistent and reliable customer experience and on average, it is approximately 50% of the cost compared to regular carrier delivery.

34m 41s

Looking at the domestic and net media segment, in Q4 adjusted EBITDA in this segment was $58,700,000 up 4.7% over the prior year period.

34m 52s

Our adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by 160 basis points year over year to 12.2%. Revenue trends in Q4 on a reported basis continued to reflect the sale and unwinding of certain non strategic assets.

35m 8s

Turning to Newsquest, for Q4 adjusted EBITDA in the segment was $11,200,000 while adjusted EBITDA margins totaled 19.2%. Despite a more challenging operating environment in the second half of the year, we are encouraged by the strong operating performance in Q4.

35m 27s

In our digital marketing solutions business, total core platform revenue in the quarter was $116,200,000 Adjusted EBITDA for the segment totaled $11,400,000 representing a margin of 9.7%. We had approximately 13,900 core platform customers, with a core platform ARPU reaching approximately $2,800 an increase of 4.7% over the prior year As Mike highlighted, 2025 strategic plan prioritizes optimizing account performance enhancing the client experience, and improving retention. Let's now shift to the balance sheet. At the end of the fourth quarter, our cash balance stood at $106,300,000 and our outstanding net debt was approximately $1,000,000,000 We generated $3,800,000 of free cash flow during Q4 which reflects approximately $6,000,000 of accelerated cash interest payments driven by the Q4 refinancing. Despite this timing of interest payments, we delivered $58,400,000 in free cash flow for the full year an increase of 3.5% over the prior year We ended Q4 with approximately $1,110,000,000 of total debt and for the full year, we repaid $73,500,000 As previously announced, in Q4, we successfully completed a comprehensive debt refinancing that extended our maturities and significantly reduced potential future dilution from the impact of our convertible notes. Our first lien net leverage of 2.7 times in Q4 was in line with our expectations given the repurchase of convertible notes with funds from the first lien term loan.

37m 14s

We believe the benefit of extending maturities and reducing potential future dilution significantly outweighs the change in our first lien net leverage. In Q4, we completed three real estate and non strategic asset sales, which generated $1,700,000 in proceeds bringing our total asset sales for the year to $21,000,000 Yesterday, we announced that we have entered into an asset purchase agreement with Hurst Corporation to divest the Austin American Statesman from our portfolio This transaction is anticipated to close in the first quarter. Hurst has a stellar reputation in the publishing industry and we believe they have outstanding team in Austin will be a great fit as part of the Hurst portfolio. This strategic sale along with proceeds of our other non strategic asset sales supports our continued debt reduction. As a result, we expect to pay down an incremental $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 of debt in the first half of the year. In 2025, we expect total assets sales to be in the range of 60,000,000 to $70,000,000 which combined with our scheduled quarterly amortization payments supports our priority of continued debt reduction. Turning now to guidance. In 2025, we expect another year of adjusted EBITDA growth over the [indiscernible] Improving revenue trends and ongoing cost management.

38m 40s

Total digital revenues are expected to grow between 7% to 10% on a same store basis. Total revenue declines will be in the low single digits on a same store basis. Q1 same store revenue trends are expected to be in line with the fourth quarter of twenty twenty with sequential improvements starting in the second quarter. Importantly, we expect same store revenue trends to begin growing on an overall basis we near the end of twenty twenty five, [indiscernible] While we anticipate adjusted EBITDA growth for the year, we expect a year over year decline in Q1 followed by steady improvement and meaningful growth in the back half of the year.

39m 19s

In 2025, we will continue to make further investments in our technology infrastructure and in our product portfolio, driving an increase in capital expenditures year over year. This is expected to have a $10,000,000 impact on free cash flow for 2025. In Q1, free cash flow is expected to decline on a year over year basis However, for the full year, we are expecting growth in excess of 40%.

39m 46s

Is also important to note that for 2026, we remain confident in the targets we previously outlined after factoring in the interest impact of the 2024 refinancing on cash flow The underlying drivers of our long term growth strategy remain strong and we continue to execute against those priorities to drive our digital transformation.

40m 9s

Our progress and results in 2024 serve as a testament to strength of our strategy continued prudent cost management and our seasoned management team We have shown a consistent ability to grow audience, increase digital revenues and strategically modulate our cost structure to positively impact adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow We are excited about our operational and financial plans for 2025 as well as what we believe to be the opportunity to create meaningful value as well as the communities that we serve. I will now hand it back to the operator for questions.

40m 47s

And then we will go back to Mike for some closing thoughts.

40m 53s

Certainly. At this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. [indiscernible] Your first question for today is from Giuliano Bologna with Compass.

41m 31s

Well, good morning and congrats on the continued execution. On the long term plans here. One thing I was curious about asking you is, you look at the 7% to 10% same store digital growth outlook for '25, I think you guys are at 5.8% in 2024 and DMS was effectively flat I'm curious when you look at the 7% to 10% range, how much of that is flat to up outside of DMS versus DMS coming back up. Into positive territory and then how should I think about the contribution from those two different parts in driving kind of a reacceleration in digital revenue real quick.

42m 11s

Yes, Julien, thanks for the [indiscernible] Question. There's a combination of both accelerated digital advertising growth as well as DMS growth. The DMS growth would be more of an enhanced towards the last February of the year. And the digital advertising growth would be more consistent throughout the year. But I think overall moving from five five point eight to seven to 10 is going to be a combination of both. Digital advertising and DMS. And it's hard to say exactly which one will be the dominant one, but we expect, as I said, digital advertising to be more of an enhancer all year versus DMS, which will be an enhancer in the back half of the year.

42m 58s

That's very helpful. And then going back to the asset sale and debt pay down topic, there are a couple of assets that are going to be pushed from 4Q into 1Q and then there's also the announcement of the sale to Hurst. I'm curious when we think about the aggregate of those assuming those things close in 1Q, is there a rough sense of like how much that could be in total? I would assume you could use all the proceeds to pay down debt.

43m 25s

Yes, we'll use all the proceeds to pay down debt. I think 1Q It's probably in the $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 range. And then when you look at the first half of the year, it's more like $60,000,000 to $70,000,000 full years.

43m 41s

Yes, that's very helpful. [indiscernible] [indiscernible] commentary around asset sales. I'm curious when we think about the asset sales so far, is there any is there a rough sense of what the revenue impact is for kind of digital versus non digital for the existing sale and then that's what that trend could be for other asset sales throughout the year?

44m 8s

Yes. For the sale of Austin their business was very reflective of our overall business So kind of that forty five forty fivefifty five mix of digital and print. The other asset sales, Giuliano, that we're working on are primarily around kind of real estate non strategic stuff. But as you can you can hear from our remarks, not only today, but on all of our quarters One of the key components to our long term strategy is the scale we're building in the digital world. So while we will always take inbounds on properties at potentially high multiples We're not actively out there trying to sell anything because our long term strategy is dependent upon the scale that we're building in the digital side. So I wouldn't we're not actively out there trying to market things, but certainly we look at inbounds. And as we've said, we're only going to sell assets that come with a very compelling multiple that is accretive to our shareholders.

45m 21s

That makes sense. I hope that I answered your question. That does that's very helpful. And thinking about the debt pay downs, [indiscernible] With that specifically in the first half of the year.

45m 33s

I'm curious is there a point at which it would make sense to consider you're working on a different capital structure set up, whether it's hopefully better cost on the term loan or [indiscernible] some of those and or trying to work on CDO reducing the dilution going forward. I'm curious how you're thinking about that and like if there are any events that would help from a deleveraging perspective on the front end?

46m 2s

Yes, look, I think we're first of all, the asset sales that Doug mentioned in his comments today of potentially $60,000,000 to $70,000,000 And then that combine that with our regular way amortization and our and our excess cash flow that will generate this year. We expect pretty significant debt pay down. Well north of $100,000,000 And as we get towards the end of the year, our first lien net leverage should be down closer to two times. And that's probably a good tipping point to go to maybe the more regular way bank markets for refinancing. And then our goal with the converts that remain is to try to do something similar to what we did this past year where we're able to convert those at some premium into debt. And reduce further dilution. We're not quite there yet. That's probably not a 2025 event. But that would be the goal. So refinance the current first lien debt into a lower cost of capital structure and then tackle the second wing two birds.

47m 13s

That is very helpful. And then one last one and then a notable topic you asked about, but I'm curious when you think about I guess you obviously have your case against Google. And then there's the OJ case and there's also other attorney general. So, it's just I'm curious if there's any update or any perspective from your side around you, the central timing of a ruling in that case or anyhow, how do you think that impacts your case.

47m 38s

Yes. Well, the timing of the ruling on the DOJ case really doesn't impact our case. Our case is proceeding along as we expected. Information has been shared back and forth, expert witnesses have been hired and that's all proceeding just as we planned. We feel as good about our case today as we have all along. So nothing changes there. The timing of the DOJ case as I said, doesn't impact us. We also don't believe that the timing of the ruling It shows any kind of weakness or anything like that. We think the DOJ put on a strong case and we expect we expect the DOJ to have a favorable ruling, but obviously that had we haven't seen anything there yet.

48m 27s

Other thing that's coming around the corner is the Texas case against Google for the same ad tech antitrust issue is going to trial late in the first half of this year. And that's Texas in 17 states. So So we're kind of excited to see that get going too. But But nothing's changed on our end and things are on track and we feel good about our position here.

48m 59s

That's very helpful. I really appreciate the time and the questions and I will jump back in the queue. Thanks, Julia.

49m 8s

Your next question is from Matt Condon with Citizens.

49m 14s

Thank you for taking my question.

49m 15s

Questions. My first one is just back on the asset sales. Mike, it sounds like you aren't looking proactively to sell off any more trophy assets unless something comes in with the right multiple. But maybe can you just remind us where are we as far as what assets are left from the non strategic portfolio that you think that you can sell off here?

49m 37s

Not only in 2025 but in 2026 and beyond?

49m 44s

So this is Doug. First, we definitely agree with your kind of first point there in terms of marketing other properties, I mean, it definitely is really dependent upon facts and circumstances basis and has to be kind of at a premium relative to our implied trading multiple. With regard to other asset sales, [indiscernible] We gave the information this morning about 60 to 70 for the year. The vast majority of that relates to off and then there is some component of real estate that we expect to sell during the year. So So those are the biggest components as we look at this year. Going further out, I would say that we're at the tail end of that real estate pipeline. We still have some properties and as we continue to optimize our footprint we'll generate some new properties for that pipeline. But it'll primarily be real estate as we move forward.

50m 43s

Great.

50m 43s

That's super helpful. And then my second one is on, can you contextualize the opportunity with Reuters and the bundled content offering? Is there anything you can provide in size of budgets from local publishers and broadcasters that are available to license your content?

51m 1s

Yes. Matt, it's I would characterize the opportunity over the next couple of years as kind of a a low to mid single digit millions type opportunity. Over the long run, depending on our offerings and where we can expand through with Reuters distribution in combination with USA TODAY, it could get bigger. But right now, I'd think about it more in that low to mid single digit millions. Type opportunity Great. And then just a final one for me.

51m 35s

You just talk about the key levers that you guys have at your disposal for 2025 for growing digital subscriber growth? Just what are the key levers there and how do you think about pushing that going forward? [indiscernible] primarily through the the personalizing the experience by understanding when consumers come to our platform each individual consumer what are they engaged with what do they spend the most time with and how can we use our vast array of content to continue to serve more personalized experiences to that consumer, lead to We believe [indiscernible] or better conversion from users to paid subscribers. And then really one of the things we mentioned in the earnings call was really going back and doubling down on the work we're doing in local markets. And so with more focus on local content creation, that's listening to the data on what consumers are using what are they engaging with, Personalizing that experience and having a broader set of content that we understand from the data is what consumers want and then making that more personalized experience we believe will accelerate the local subscriber paid the local paid subscriber numbers. So it's really a data play and a in a personalization play.

53m 11s

Great. Thank you so much.

53m 17s

We have reached the end of the question and answer session. And I will now turn the call over to Mike for closing remarks.

53m 25s

Yes. Thank you. So we are entering 2025 with a great deal of optimism. And as we do, I just want to recap a few key points from 2024 that lead to that confidence we're carrying into 2025. We delivered on the overall revenue and profitability targets we set at the start of 2024, we grew adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow for the second consecutive year We drove a marked improvement to adjusted net income which increased $66,000,000 over the prior year. Our same store revenue trends improved from down 8.6% in the prior year 2025 is a pivotal year and that we have plans to reach the inflection sustainable revenue growth as a foundational shift in the trajectory for Gannett, Our same store total digital revenues grew 5.8% That was a significant improvement versus 1.4% growth in 2023 and total digital revenues as a percentage of total revenue increased to 44 in 2024 versus 39% in 2023. And we have industry leading scale with proven customer engagement metrics which gives us a tremendous revenue opportunity when you think about our audience. And so we're really excited about that. And I'll leave you with this thought, transformations are not easy.

54m 56s

But the payoffs can be tremendous. And when you reflect on Slide six, which in the supplement, which we called out early in our remarks today, You can see the progress we've made over the last couple of years on this transformation across all important metrics. And what we're really excited about and we're delivering to you today is we expect to improve again across all those metrics in 2025. So we feel good about where we are in the journey. And are excited about what we can deliver again in 2025. So thank you for joining us today and we look forward updating you again at the end of the first quarter.

55m 37s

This concludes today's conference and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Key Insights

Gannett reported significant progress in 2024, with adjusted EBITDA increasing for the second consecutive year and free cash flow growing by approximately $60 million year-over-year. Adjusted net income improved to $25 million, a $66 million increase compared to the prior year's net loss of $41 million.
Total digital revenues grew 5% in 2024 to approximately $1.1 billion, representing 44% of total revenue, up from 39% in 2023. The company expects digital revenues to grow between 7% to 10% on a same-store basis in 2025, aiming for digital revenues to account for 50% of total revenue.
Gannett anticipates achieving positive same-store revenue growth by the end of 2025, driven by improvements in digital advertising, digital marketing solutions (DMS), and personalized consumer experiences. The company also plans to expand its focus on local content and sports coverage.
The company successfully refinanced its debt in 2024, extending maturities and reducing potential future share dilution. Gannett expects to pay down $50 million to $60 million of debt in the first half of 2025 through asset sales and regular amortization, with total asset sales projected at $60 million to $70 million for the year.
For 2025, Gannett projects adjusted EBITDA growth, free cash flow growth exceeding 40%, and continued investments in technology and product development. The company remains confident in its long-term strategy, emphasizing digital transformation and audience monetization.

Recent Transcripts

Gannett achieved digital revenue growth and improved financial performance in 2024.

Income Statement

Revenue

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Revenue	$3.4B	$3.2B	$2.9B	$2.7B	$2.5B
Cost of Revenue	$2B	$1.9B	$1.9B	$1.7B	$0
Gross Profit	$1.4B	$1.3B	$1.1B	$972M	$2.5B
Gross Profit %	40%	41%	37%	37%	100%
R&D Expenses	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Revenue

$3.4B

$3.2B

$2.9B

$2.7B

$2.5B

Cost of Revenue

$2B

$1.9B

$1.7B

Gross Profit

$1.4B

$1.3B

$1.1B

$972M

$2.5B

Gross Profit %

40%

41%

37%

100%

R&D Expenses

Cash Flow

Net Income

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Net Income	-$672M	-$136M	-$78M	-$28M	-$26M
Dep. & Amort.	$264M	$204M	$182M	$156M	$156M
Def. Tax	-$30M	$45M	$2.5M	$12M	-$45M
Stock Comp.	$26M	$18M	$17M	$17M	$13M
Chg. in WC	$43M	-$75M	-$17M	-$32M	$17M

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Net Income

-$672M

-$136M

-$78M

-$28M

-$26M

Dep. & Amort.

$264M

$204M

$182M

$156M

Def. Tax

-$30M

$45M

$2.5M

$12M

-$45M

Stock Comp.

$26M

$18M

$17M

$13M

Chg. in WC

$43M

-$75M

-$17M

-$32M

$17M

Balance Sheet

Cash

	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Cash	$171M	$131M	$94M	$100M	$106M
ST Investments	$0	$0	$0	$0	$0
Cash & ST Inv.	$171M	$131M	$94M	$100M	$106M
Receivables	$314M	$329M	$289M	$266M	$240M
Inventory	$35M	$38M	$45M	$27M	$21M

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Cash

$171M

$131M

$94M

$100M

$106M

ST Investments

Cash & ST Inv.

$171M

$131M

$94M

$100M

$106M

Receivables

$314M

$329M

$289M

$266M

$240M

Inventory

$35M

$38M

$45M

$27M

$21M

Go Deeper

Financial information provided by Financial Modeling Prep. Options data provided by Unusual Whales. Live transcripts provided by Quartr. All data is provided for informational purposes only, and is not intended for trading purposes or financial, investment, tax, legal, accounting or other advice. · See all tickers.

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Earnings

Report Date

Feb 20, 2025

Reported Revenue

621.3M

Avg 1d Change

14.49%

Report Period

Q4 2024

EPS Estimate

—

Implied Move 1d

11.51%

Transcript

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On a same store basis, revenues decreased 5.5% which was relatively in line with Q3 trends.

31m 27s

32m 10s

32m 23s

32m 51s

33m 18s

33m 48s

Digital only subscription revenue rose 17% and digital only ARPU increased approximately 13% in Q4.

33m 56s

34m 41s

Looking at the domestic and net media segment, in Q4 adjusted EBITDA in this segment was $58,700,000 up 4.7% over the prior year period.

34m 52s

Our adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by 160 basis points year over year to 12.2%. Revenue trends in Q4 on a reported basis continued to reflect the sale and unwinding of certain non strategic assets.

35m 8s

35m 27s

37m 14s

38m 40s

39m 19s

39m 46s

40m 9s

40m 47s

And then we will go back to Mike for some closing thoughts.

40m 53s

Certainly. At this time, we will be conducting a question and answer session. [indiscernible] Your first question for today is from Giuliano Bologna with Compass.

41m 31s

42m 11s

42m 58s

43m 25s

43m 41s

44m 8s

45m 21s

That makes sense. I hope that I answered your question. That does that's very helpful. And thinking about the debt pay downs, [indiscernible] With that specifically in the first half of the year.

45m 33s

46m 2s

47m 13s

47m 38s

48m 27s

48m 59s

That's very helpful. I really appreciate the time and the questions and I will jump back in the queue. Thanks, Julia.

49m 8s

Your next question is from Matt Condon with Citizens.

49m 14s

Thank you for taking my question.

49m 15s

49m 37s

Not only in 2025 but in 2026 and beyond?

49m 44s

50m 43s

Great.

50m 43s

51m 1s

51m 35s

53m 11s

Great. Thank you so much.

53m 17s

We have reached the end of the question and answer session. And I will now turn the call over to Mike for closing remarks.

53m 25s

54m 56s

55m 37s

This concludes today's conference and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

Key Insights

Gannett reported significant progress in 2024, with adjusted EBITDA increasing for the second consecutive year and free cash flow growing by approximately $60 million year-over-year. Adjusted net income improved to $25 million, a $66 million increase compared to the prior year's net loss of $41 million.
Total digital revenues grew 5% in 2024 to approximately $1.1 billion, representing 44% of total revenue, up from 39% in 2023. The company expects digital revenues to grow between 7% to 10% on a same-store basis in 2025, aiming for digital revenues to account for 50% of total revenue.
Gannett anticipates achieving positive same-store revenue growth by the end of 2025, driven by improvements in digital advertising, digital marketing solutions (DMS), and personalized consumer experiences. The company also plans to expand its focus on local content and sports coverage.
The company successfully refinanced its debt in 2024, extending maturities and reducing potential future share dilution. Gannett expects to pay down $50 million to $60 million of debt in the first half of 2025 through asset sales and regular amortization, with total asset sales projected at $60 million to $70 million for the year.
For 2025, Gannett projects adjusted EBITDA growth, free cash flow growth exceeding 40%, and continued investments in technology and product development. The company remains confident in its long-term strategy, emphasizing digital transformation and audience monetization.

Gannett Co., Inc. Price & Performance (GCI)

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