McClatchy Reports Fourth Quarter 2013 Earnings

By: Press Release | The McClatchy Company

The McClatchy Company today reported fourth quarter 2013 earnings, excluding the net impact of certain items discussed below, of $29.9 million. Earnings in the fourth quarter of 2012, adjusted for similar items and the extra week in our 2012 fiscal calendar (discussed below), were $29.8 million.

On a GAAP basis, net income in the fourth quarter of 2013 was $12.5 million, or 14 cents per share. In the fourth quarter of 2012 the company reported a net loss of $30.0 million, or 35 cents per share.

The company's fiscal 2013 reporting period was a 52-week year compared to a 53-week year in 2012, and as a result, the fiscal fourth quarter of 2013 includes 13 weeks compared to 14 weeks in the 2012 fiscal fourth quarter. The company estimates that the reported net loss in 2012 was reduced by approximately $4.0 million because of the additional week being reported. The estimated impact of the extra week in the 2012 fiscal calendar on revenues and expenses are outlined in a proforma schedule of 13-week quarterly results and 52-week annual results for 2012, which accompanies this release.

Commenting on McClatchy's 2013 fourth quarter results, Pat Talamantes, McClatchy's president and CEO, said, "We ended 2013 on a positive note. The total revenue trend improved this quarter compared to both the proforma13-week fourth quarter of 2012 and the third quarter of 2013, driven by improvement in both advertising and circulation revenue trends. And on a comparable basis, adjusted net income in the 2013 quarter was slightly ahead of the estimated 13-week fourth quarter of 2012. We also continue to make great strides in growing our digital audience as evidenced by the 19.7% growth in monthly unique visitors and 83.0% growth in mobile monthly unique visitors compared to the same quarter last year. We generated additional liquidity this quarter, having received $38.7 million in cash distributions from our equity investments for a total of $42.4 million in 2013. We ended the year with $80.8 million in cash and have only $29 million in debt principal coming due in late 2014 and then no maturities until the second half of 2017. Importantly, our digital transformation continues. We are executing on our revenue diversification initiatives and digital growth strategies, and we look forward to 2014 with optimism."

Fourth Quarter Results

Total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2013 were $344.7 million, down 8.4% from the fourth quarter results of 2012, which included an additional week due to our fiscal 2012 calendar. Based on an estimated 13-week fourth quarter of 2012, fourth quarter of 2013 total revenues were down about 2.1% from the comparable fourth quarter of 2012. Advertising revenues were $238.8 million, down an estimated 6.0%, and circulation revenues were $92.7 million, up approximately 9.1% from the same estimated 13-week quarter in 2012. Circulation revenues were up about 3.3% for the quarter excluding the $4.9 million in revenue related to the transition to fee-for-service circulation delivery contracts at newspapers that changed to fee-for-service contracts during 2013. Total digital-only revenues, which include digital-only revenues from advertising and circulation, were up approximately15.8% compared to the same estimated 13-week quarter last year.