Shares of Gannett Co Inc (NYSE:GCI) plummeted 5.09% in pre-market trading on Friday following the company's lackluster fourth-quarter 2024 results and cautious outlook for the first quarter of 2025.
In its Q4 2024 earnings report, Gannett reported a 7.2% year-over-year decrease in total operating revenues to $621.3 million. On a same-store basis, revenue declined 5.5%, highlighting the company's ongoing struggles to drive top-line growth.
While Gannett achieved a 5.5% increase in adjusted EBITDA to $78.2 million and an improved margin of 12.6%, investors seemed more focused on the challenges facing the company's digital and partnership businesses in the near term.
Gannett's Digital Marketing Solutions (DMS) business, which caters to small and medium-sized businesses, was negatively impacted by the macro environment and higher customer churn in the second half of 2024. Meanwhile, the company's partnership revenue growth was tempered by Google's updated search policies and algorithm changes.
Adding to investor concerns, Gannett warned of a year-over-year decline in adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2025, with improvements expected later in the year. The company also expects free cash flow to decline on a year-over-year basis in Q1 2025, despite projecting overall growth for the full year.
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