Lee Enterprises - Earnings Call - Q2 2021

Transcript

Speaker 0

Welcome to the Lee Enterprises Inc. Second Quarter twenty twenty one and Conference Call. The call is being recorded and will be available for replay beginning later this morning at lee.net. At the close of planned remarks, there will be an opportunity for questions.

Participants accessing this call by webcast may submit written questions through the website, and they will be answered during the call as time permits. Otherwise, you will receive a response later. A link to the live webcast can be found at investors.lee.net. Now I'll turn the call over to your host, Josh Reinholdz, Vice President, Finance, FP and A. Please go ahead, sir.

Speaker 1

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Speaking on this morning's call is Kevin Mowbray, president and chief executive officer and Tim Milledge, vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer. Also with us on today's call and available for questions is Nathan Becky, vice president, consumer sales and marketing. Earlier today, we issued a news release with preliminary results for our 2021. It is available at we.net as well as at major financial websites.

1 housekeeping item to start. We closed on the acquisition of BH Media Group and the Buffalo News on 03/16/2020. Certain results and trends are presented on a pro form a basis, which assumes ownership of these acquisitions for the entirety of the periods presented. As a reminder, this morning's discussion will include forward looking statements that are based on our current expectations. These statements are subject to certain risks, trends, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially.

Such factors are described in this morning's news release and also in our SEC filings. During the call, we make reference to certain non GAAP financial measures, which are defined in our news release. Reconciliations to the relevant GAAP measures are included in tables accompanying the release. And now to open the discussion is our President and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Mowbray.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Josh. Good morning, and thank you all for joining the call. I'm extremely proud of the velocity in which our team is moving, the engagement we're seeing in our local markets, and our three pillar digital growth strategy that we discussed with all of you in early April. Our second quarter results reflect that performance as we saw continued sequential top line revenue trend improvement, strong cost management and adjusted EBITDA growth for the first time in several years. Total operating revenue improved two eighty basis points over the first quarter as we remain keenly focused on executing on our three pillar digital growth strategy.

In the second quarter, nearly 50% of our revenue was annualized recurring revenue, which totaled $95,000,000 in the quarter. Total digital revenue was $59,500,000 in the quarter, up nearly 30% and represented 31% of our total operating revenue. Digital lease subscriptions continue to grow at a rapid rate, up 58% compared to the prior year, and we grew digital only subscription revenue 68% as well. We now have 309,000 paid digital lease subscriptions, which is helping us drive audience revenue performance. These metrics demonstrate we're the fastest growing digital subscription platform in local media.

Each month in the second quarter, we saw sequential growth in total paid subscribers. This means that the growth of our digital only subscribers is outpacing the declines of our full access subscribers. Returning to total paid audience growth is a significant milestone for Lee as we continue to drive our digital transformation efforts. Audience revenue in total was up 1.8% compared to the prior year as a result of the strong yield management of our full access subscriptions and a 58% digital only subscriber growth in the quarter. TownNews, which is our software as a service content management platform, is the digital backbone of our operations and that of over 2,000 other media partners.

And revenue at TownNews continues to perform well, up 8.8 on a stand alone basis, with revenue of 26,100,000.0 over the last twelve months. Growth in revenue in TownNews continued with our audience revenue streams is driving the increase in annualized recurring revenue. In advertising, local retail accounts, top local accounts and SMBs in our markets are our focus. We believe this segment of our revenue will improve and grow. Our strategy to drive advertising revenue from the local retail segment leverages the 70% reach in our markets and contributed to our continued strong revenue trend improvement.

Consistent with our overall revenue trends, advertising revenue trends significantly improved in the second quarter. We've achieved continuous advertising revenue trend improvements since the worst of the pandemic last year and posted strong quarter over quarter comparisons in the March. Advertising revenue trends improved 600 basis points compared to the first quarter trends, excluding the political bump we experienced in the first quarter. Additionally, we've made significant investments to diversify the products and services we offer local advertisers. We saw strong performance from our digital marketing services agency, Amplified, with revenue growth of 26.3% in the quarter.

We saw significant growth of video revenue, which totaled 1,800,000.0 in the second quarter. These revenue streams, combined with strategies to develop e commerce and first party data revenue, are laying the foundation for significant digital advertising revenue growth in the latter half of fiscal 2021. Lee is on a clear path to leverage the strength of our market position, improved capital structure, and well established digital foundation to drive long term growth. We've set a bold course for our digital future. We will maintain momentum as we execute our strategy and rebound from the pandemic as a stronger company, have proven how critical our mission of high value local news and information is for our readers and the value and resilience of our platform for our advertising partners.

We're very excited about our progress that we've made on our digital transformation. We're very optimistic about our future. We believe we have the right team and the right strategies aimed at growing revenue year over year. And we believe we are better positioned than ever to drive long term shareholder value creation. And now I'll turn it over to Tim to give you more financial detail.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Kevin, and good morning, everyone. We continue to diligently manage our cost structure at the same time as make the necessary investments to fund our digital growth. In June, we laid out a target to achieve 100,000,000 in cost synergies by the end of fiscal year twenty twenty one. We established plans and executed quickly, and at the end of the second quarter, we've achieved a 110,000,000 in cost synergies exceeding our target. Total cash costs were down 9.1% in the second quarter compared to the same quarter last year.

Compensation was down 8% due to business transformation and acquisition integration initiatives. Newsprint and ink expense was down 26% due to a reduction in our print units as well as pricing. Other cash costs includes print related costs like print production expenses and delivery expenses, and it also includes expenses related to the digital and technology investments we have made. Other cash costs were down 8.4% in the quarter due to a reduction in print related costs partially offset by the incremental digital investments. As a result of the strong revenue performance Kevin walked through and cost management that I discussed, adjusted EBITDA totaled 24,100,000.0 in the second quarter, up year over year for the first time in several years.

For the year to date period, adjusted EBITDA totaled 64,100,000.0. With strong cash flow in the quarter, we have strengthened our balance sheet. Debt was reduced 24,600,000.0 in the second quarter, and the principal amount of debt at the March totaled totaled $498,900,000. Over the last nine months, debt has been reduced by $77,100,000. Also, while not seen in our balance sheet yet as we revalue our pension liabilities at fiscal year end in accordance with GAAP, our pension and post retirement benefit obligations at the March are in are in net overfunded position.

This is a significant improvement in our balance sheet since September 2020 where the net underfunded position was $95,000,000. As a reminder, our credit agreement has a low fixed annual interest rate, a twenty five year maturity, no fixed mandatory principal payments, and does not have financial performance covenants, meaning we do not have events of default tied to leverage or other maintenance ratios derived from financial performance of the company. Most importantly, the debt is with a single lender who knows us well and is committed to our success. The credit agreement also has no prepayment penalties, which affords us the ability to evaluate credit market conditions for an opportunistic refinancing in the future to further improve our debt structure. Our strong foundation and well defined long term strategy puts Lee Enterprises on a clear path to value creation for our readers, users, advertisers, and our investors.

As we execute and approach our target leverage ratio of two and a half times, we expect to create significant value for our shareholders through conversion of debt to equity. Also, our three pillar digital growth strategy positions us to unlock the full value of Lee's platform and achieve multiple expansion that is in line with our digital first peer companies, creating more value for these shareholders. In summary, we are really encouraged with our second quarter results, the progress we have made on our three pillar digital growth strategy, and are optimistic about the future of Lee. One last thing before we open the line for questions. We expect to file our 10 q with the SEC tomorrow.

And as always, it will include additional information on our results and expectations. This concludes our remarks. The team will remain on the line for any questions you may have. Operator, please open the line for questions.

Speaker 0

Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer session. As a reminder, if you are accessing this call by webcast, you may submit type questions on your screen. Those questions will be answered during the call as time permits. Participants on the phone line will not have an opportunity to ask questions.

One moment please while we poll for questions.

Speaker 1

Okay. Our first question is, is Lee participating in Facebook or Google's programs to support news?

Speaker 2

Yeah. We are. Last fiscal year, we received grants from both Facebook and Google to support our newsrooms digital transformation, and they total about $300,000.

Speaker 1

Our second question is that our print advertising revenues increasing or decreasing, and are the trends uniform across your properties?

Speaker 3

What I'd say is our our total advertising revenue trends are improving significantly since the worst of the pandemic in the third quarter of last year. You know, as a reminder, you know, third quarter trends were down thirty 9% third quarter last year, and we've significantly improved those trends, you know, going through every quarter since then. In in the the second quarter of of this fiscal year, advertising revenue trends were down 16.3%. So showing some significant improvement in getting back to kind of the the pre pandemic levels, which we expect to see in the latter half of, of the fiscal year 2021.

Speaker 1

Our next question is what trends are you seeing in print circulation numbers? And if they're dropping, is the digital subscription revenue enough to offset it?

Speaker 2

Yes. As I mentioned in my remarks today, our total paid units are actually up year over year, and our circulation audience revenue is up 1.8% compared to the prior

Speaker 3

In fact, concludes, the question and answer session. I'll turn it over to Kevin for some closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Well, thank you for joining us on the call today. As I mentioned earlier, we remain focused on executing at a high level, and we're keenly focused on transforming our business models for the long term benefit of our employees, our readers, our advertisers, and our investors. We appreciate your time, Yuri, and thank you again for joining the call today.

Speaker 0

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we have reached the end of our question and answer session. This concludes our call.