UPDATE: Tribune Publishing (TPCO) Reports 1Q EPS Loss of $0.99, Revenues Beat; Offers 2Q Revenue Guidance Below Consensus

Tribune Publishing (NASDAQ: TPCO) reported Q1 EPS of ($0.99), $1.01 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.02. Revenue for the quarter came in at $216.5 million versus the consensus estimate of $211.45 million.

First Quarter 2020 Highlights:

• Total revenues were $216.5 million, down from $244.5 million in the first quarter of 2019
• Loss from operations was $62.0 million, substantially due to non-cash impairment charges of $51.0 million, compared to a loss of $7.4 million in the first quarter of 2019
• Adjusted EBITDA was $13.3 million, a decrease of $8.0 million compared to the first quarter of 2019
• Digital-only subscribers increased 30.7% to 370,000 at the end of the first quarter 2020, up from 283,000 at the end of the first quarter 2019, and related revenue was up 42.4% compared to the first quarter of 2019

Terry Jimenez, Tribune Publishing Chief Executive Officer and President, said: “We began 2020 with a sharp focus on growing our digital-only subscriber base and managing costs to offset secular revenue declines. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter required us to accelerate these efforts in order to manage the impact of the economic slowdown on our advertising partners and thereby our business. We have continued to see strong growth in digital-only subscribers which increased 30.7% year-over-year as of the end of the first quarter and continue to grow rapidly as we progress through second quarter. We have taken extensive and aggressive steps to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 including modification of manufacturing and distribution processes, reducing and freezing spending, eliminating incentive and discretionary bonuses and delaying non-essential repairs and maintenance along with difficult decisions that resulted in the elimination of positions, salary reductions and employee furloughs. While we are not on the other side of the pandemic, I am very appreciative of our team's ability to move with agility to navigate through the pandemic's storm.”

“We recognize that coming out of the pandemic, the Company must accelerate its digital footprint and position itself as a smaller, more nimble operation in order to sustain itself for the long term. Accordingly, we have and are aggressively flattening our management organization, reducing our real estate footprint and eliminating our fixed cost infrastructure. We believe the combination of these restructuring activities, cost saving measures, preserving our strong balance sheet and the reopening of businesses will favorably position the Company's short and long-term financial future. While we have withdrawn full year guidance given the lack of visibility on the timing and the size for the economic recovery, we still believe we will generate positive cash flow for 2020 and we have provided guidance for Q2, 2020.”

GUIDANCE:

Tribune Publishing sees Q2 2020 revenue of $172-175 million, versus the consensus of $186.22 million.

• For the second quarter of 2020, the Company expects total revenues of $172.0 million to $175.0 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $10.5 million to $12.0 million.

• The Company is not providing full year 2020 guidance at this time.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Tribune Publishing (TPCO) click here.

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