Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE) reported Q3 EPS of ($0.02), versus $0.10 reported last year. Revenue for the quarter came in at $182.5 million, versus $127.28 million reported last year.

“We remain committed to providing high quality, trusted local news to our huge audiences and supporting our local advertisers during these uncertain times,” said Kevin Mowbray, President and Chief Executive Officer. “It is vital in our local markets to have a strong, local voice covering critical issues, and our newsrooms are steadfast in that endeavor. I am incredibly proud of the way our organization has responded in the current circumstances,” Mowbray added.

“We are pleased with our third quarter operating results, despite the significant disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. We exceeded the high end of our revenue outlook and also exceeded the high end of our Adjusted EBITDA outlook. Revenue from subscriptions and TownNews were strong and stable in the third quarter. These revenue streams are predominately contract-based and represented more than half of our total operating revenue in the quarter,” said Mowbray.

“As we evaluate our post pandemic operating strategy, we are focused on strategic innovations that meet the needs of our readers and advertisers. To that end, our digital only subscriber base now totals 222,000, a 35.1% annualized increase over the March 2020 subscriber base and a 72.9% increase over June of last year, on a pro forma basis. We expect to continuously grow our digital only subscriber base,” Mowbray added.

“We continue to support advertisers in our local markets with the matching grant program, an initiative that generated $4.6 million of advertising revenue in the quarter,” Mowbray added. “While advertising revenue continues to be off historical trends, we did see continuous and substantial improvement each month throughout the quarter, and are seeing that continue into July,” Mowbray added.

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