Gannett ad revenue down 18%

Gannett, the biggest newspaper publisher in the US and the owner of UK regional publisher Newsquest, has reported an 18% year-on-year fall in ad revenue for the final three months of 2009. The company said that ad revenue at Newsquest, which publishes more than 200 titles, fell 17.9% year on year in the thirteen weeks to 27 December. Gannett's US operation saw an 18% decline in ad revenue year on year. Gannett said that the newspaper advertising sector in the US and UK has stabilised in the run-up to Christmas. In the third quarter of last year, ad revenue fell by almost 30% year-on-year and Gannett said it was positive about the outlook for 2010. At Newsquest, which publishes titles including the Glasgow Herald, national advertising fell by 3% year on year in the fourth quarter of 2009. This compares with a 10.4% fall year on year in the third quarter. Classified advertising, which has been the worst hit as the sector continues to migrate online, fell by 23.5%. However, this was an improvement over the 34.7% year-on-year fall recorded by Newsquest in the third quarter. Retail advertising fell by 11.2% year-on-year. Motoring and jobs advertising continued to suffer huge declines in the UK, with the former falling by 26.9% year on year and the latter dropping by a 38.5%. Real estate advertising fell just 9.4% year-on-year, a marked improvement over the 30.6% year-on-year fall recorded in the third quarter. "Advertising demand firmed with the stabilisation of the economies in the US and the UK," said Craig Dubow, the chief executive of Gannett. "Our fourth-quarter revenue comparisons were the best of the year with sequential improvement during the quarter. We are much stronger and well positioned as we move into 2010." USA Today, the group's flagship paper, sold 705 pages of advertising in the fourth quarter, compared with 788 in the final quarter of 2008. However, the company said that in December national advertising was up 8.7% higher year-on-year. The company said that it had reduced debt by $250m in the fourth quarter and $755m across the year. This reduced its debt leverage ration to 2.6 times – well below the 3.5 covenant ceiling. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".