By: E&P Staff The Gannett Co. issued a statement regarding Standard & Poor's placing the McLean, Va.-based company's long and short-term credit ratings on a credit watch today.
"Our underlying fundamentals remain strong, and we continue to be a solid investment grade company," Craig Dubow, Gannett's chairman, president and CEO, said in a statement.
Gannett said it's tapping the commercial paper market despite the near chokehold of the credit markets over the past few weeks. Gannett drew down on its committed revolving credit facilities sufficient funds to cover its commercial paper obligations "as a prudent liquidity measure in light of the ongoing credit market."
"This action was taken prior to -- and was completely unrelated to -- Standard & Poor's actions today," according to the statement.
The company said it continues to generate "substantial" cash flow and has significant room under its $3.9 billion of committed revolving credit facilities -- "far in excess of our total commercial paper obligations."
According to MarketWatch, S&P said it might downgrade Gannett because of declining newspaper ad revenue: "Even though we are placing the company's 'A-2' commercial paper rating on CreditWatch pending the outcome of our review, we are not currently concerned about Gannett's short-term liquidity position given its substantial backup credit facilities."
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here