By: Jennifer Saba During this morning's Gannett Q2 conference call, Douglas McCorkindale, chairman, president, and CEO, told a group of analysts that he expects the newspaper division to do generally OK in the second half of the year. "It's not as bad as the doom and gloom you see in our newspapers," he said.
However, the advertising environment remains choppy and weakness in the automotive category is impacting the bottom line. McCorkindale said that Gannett would most likely continue to struggle across all platforms. "The outlook is uncertain," he said about the category.
In fact, automotive was one of the more popular subjects broached by analysts this morning.
Gannett reported that for Q2 the classified category rose 4.9% with help-wanted and real estate up 8% and 6.5% respectively. But automotive declined 5%.
The company did see some lift in ROP auto advertising from a General Motors' campaign touting discounts for employees. Other automakers have since joined suit. Though Gracia Martore, senior vice president and CFO, said the category is "bouncing around and hurting us."
As for circulation revenue, which is up 2.7% in Q2, the company is beginning to gain some traction post-Do Not Call Register. Gannett's smaller markets have been fairing better than the larger markets. McCorkindale also said that they are not getting a lot of pushback from advertisers who are more interested in eyeballs and market coverage.
One analyst pointed out that in USA Today's most recent publisher's statement, full paid single copy sales slid about 17%. Gannett expects the September FAS-FAX number to be down. "We are seeing some softness in USA Today, but we're moving pretty good considering the price increase," McCorkindale said.
Also, McCorkindale said that on Friday Craig Dubow, the newly appointed president and CEO, will officially take the reins.
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