PROVIDENCE – Gannett Co., parent company of The Providence Journal and several other local papers, reported a loss of $31.3 million in the third quarter, or 24 cents per diluted share.
One year prior, the company reported an $18.5 million loss, or 31 cents per diluted share.
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Second quarter losses totaled $436.9 million, slammed by the impact of COVID-19.
The company owns and operates several papers in the Rhode Island and Massachusetts market, including The Providence Journal, The Taunton Gazette, The Newport Daily News, The Cape Cod Times, The Herald News in Fall River, The Worcester Telegram and The Standard-Times in New Bedford. Gannett also owns publications in nearly every state in the nation, as well as operations in the United Kingdom.
Revenue for the quarter totaled $814.5 million, an increase from $376.6 million, reflecting that the company, who was previously named New Media Investment Group, had acquired Gannett in November 2019, following the third quarter. Same-store revenue declined 23.9% year over year.
Same-store revenue declined 19.6% year over year, the company said.
“Our third quarter results showed a significant and rapid rebound from the second quarter impact of the COVID pandemic and economic shutdown,” said Michael Reed, Gannett chairman and CEO. “Our same-store revenue trend, though down 19.6% year over year, improved meaningfully over our second quarter trend of down 28% year over year. … We also reached a major milestone in our digital subscription growth, surpassing 1 million digital subscriptions during the quarter, thanks to continued strong growth of more than 31% year over year. As we continue to focus on transitioning to a subscription-led business model, we expect to leverage this important milestone to accelerate growth in 2021 and beyond.”
The company said that it had implemented changes in the third quarter that will result in $218 million in annualized savings, including $54.5 million in savings in the third quarter. It also projected that it will implement another $240 million in annualized savings by the end of the fourth quarter, and added that, “Management remains highly confident in its ability to implement measures by the end of 2021 that are expected to result in $300 million in annualized synergies.”
