Newspaper Publisher Gannett Swings to Second-Quarter Profit

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on July 15, 2009 - 7:20am.

McLean, Va. - In a hopeful sign for the newspaper industry, Gannett (NYSE: GCI), the publisher of USA Today and 83 other daily papers, on Wednesday reported a second-quarter profit that easily topped the estimates of Wall Street analysts and sent company shares up more than 20% by midday.

Despite an 18% drop in revenue -- the result of continued weak ad sales -- the company posted net income of $70.5 million, up from a loss of $2.29 billion a year ago that included several large writedowns.

On a per-share basis, Gannett's profit of $0.46 beat consensus analyst estimates by $0.09, according to Reuters estimates.

Reduced expenses accounted for the bulk of that, following recent job cuts and facility consolidations.

"We continue to position the company for the eventual rebound in the economy and the evolving media landscape as we navigate through this unprecedented economic storm," said CFO Gracia Martore.

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