Key questions and answers from the fourth quarter fiscal 2007 earnings call conducted by Gannett Co Inc. on February 1, 2008.
John Janedis (Wachovia): Can you just talk about pricing changes in 2008 for classifieds in the four markets you’ve been talking about now for the last few quarters? Are you pushing through increases in the low singles or dropping rates in an effort to drive volumes?
Gracia C. Martore: It varies from market to market and newspaper to newspaper. We are very mindful of each market’s individual characteristics and in some, we can press pricing and in other areas, we are not afforded that ability. We are being very cognizant of what our advertisers are looking for and being focused on what we need to do to drive revenues to the company.
Karl Choi (Merrill Lynch): What you are seeing so far in the new year? Has the decline been similar to what you were seeing in December?
Craig A. Dubow: This is very much of what we were seeing in December. What we are seeing right now as we go through the first quarter is quite similar to that as we go forward. We are hopeful that we are going to be seeing some pick-up in the political on the television side as we move through Super Tuesday and into the overall election period toward November. The same as we move toward the Olympics but overall right now, we are seeing a continuation from what we saw in December. With one exception in what we are seeing at USA TODAY, we are seeing a little bit of pick-up for January and that is a more positive trend than what we were seeing certainly through December as well.
Karl Choi (Merrill Lynch): Was the headcount down in the year?
Gracia C. Martore: On a pro forma basis, fourth quarter over fourth quarter, headcount was down in the mid- to high-single-digits.
Alexia Quadrani (Bear Stearns & Co.): With regard to your comments about January seeing a little bit of a pick-up from December, is that also true for the U.K.? Are the trends similar there as they are in the U.S.?
Craig A. Dubow: The pick-up is just with USA TODAY. I would say we are seeing for the most part in our other publishing areas as well as broadcast the same. We saw, in the U.K., a softening as we went through the end of the year, particularly the last few weeks and that has not picked up for us at this point.
Alexia Quadrani (Bear Stearns & Co.): Were the profits also down at Newsquest in the fourth quarter?
Gracia C. Martore: Yes, they were down slightly in the U.K. in the fourth quarter. The profit decline was a little bit higher than the revenue decline.
Alexia Quadrani (Bear Stearns & Co.): Was there any reason behind the reclassification of the equity interest that you mentioned?
Gracia C. Martore: As is the annual practice of the SEC, they provided a comment letter on our 2006 10-K. They asked a few questions about it. As we looked at it carefully here, given that our equity investments in various Internet businesses are continuing to increase, we felt that this was the appropriate time to combine those partnerships together with those investments and put it in one line, which is the more typical treatment on the P&L.
Peter Appert (Goldman Sachs): Do you think you can sustain the current newspaper segment margins in 2008, given what you are seeing from a revenue standpoint?
Gracia C. Martore: Obviously it will be a little bit tougher as the newsprint prices turn from being a positive impact to a neutral to a bit of a headwind for us, but we are continuing to look at further consolidations and centralizations of operations and properties. We’ll continue to take advantage of technology improvements and we’ll continue to do a strong job on the expense side. Whether we can maintain margins or not, we’ll have to see how each quarter unfolds and where the economy goes each quarter.
Peter Appert (Goldman Sachs): What was the FX impact for the quarter on earnings? Also what the CareerBuilder revenues were for the quarter?
Gracia C. Martore: The impact of foreign exchange was around 1 cent for the quarter. On CareerBuilder revenues, I don’t believe they have released those numbers yet.
Craig Huber (Lehman Brothers): Have your thoughts changed at all on potentially selling or spinning off your TV station group as you think out over the next year or so?
Craig A. Dubow: No, we always look at all elements of it but this year, there are some great opportunities. We are moving forward. We are real excited about what the group has already produced and we’re looking forward.
Fred Searby (J.P. Morgan): There’s been a fair amount of concern about potentially a real meltdown in the U.K. housing market. Can you talk about what you think is happening? Is that what started to fall off for Newsquest in December? |