Gannett Q2 Profit Surges On Tax Benefits, Shares Up

(RTTNews) - Thursday, diversified media company Gannett Co., Inc. (GCI) reported an exceptional increase in second earnings, compared to the same period last year, reflecting a significant benefit for income taxes. Meanwhile, revenues were lower than the previous year.

The quarterly earnings were $78.39 million or $0.42 per share, compared to $13.75 million or $0.09 per share last year. The results included a gain on sale or disposal of assets, higher other net income. Benefit for income taxes were $87.47 million, compared to $26.80 million a year ago. On a pre-tax basis, loss was $9.07 million, narrower than loss of $13.09 million last year.

On an adjusted basis, earnings were $84.5 million.

Revenue for the quarter declined 8.6 percent to $584.86 million from $639.84 million last year. Same store revenues were down 6.4 percent.

Looking ahead, Michael Reed, chairman and chief executive officer, said, "To support our long-term growth objectives, we are implementing targeted annualized expense reductions of approximately $100 million that we anticipate will create a lower and more variable cost structure. We believe these actions position us to increase our margins, and as a result, we expect to deliver Total Adjusted EBITDA growth in the back half of the year and for the full year of 2026."

The company plans to repay $23.4 million of debt in the second quarter, and expects to exceed initial projection of repaying over $135 million of debt by end of 2025.

For the second half, the company expects earning attributable to Gannett is expected to decline from the prior year, while revenue is projected to be down in the low single digits on a same store basis. Total digital revenues are expected to grow approximately 3 to 5 percent on a same store basis.

For the full year, total revenue is expected to be down in the low-mid single digits on a same store basis leading to flat same store revenue trends in early 2026. Further, Gannet expects net income attributable to improve from the previous year.

Currently, shares are at $3.95, up 8.07 percent from the previous close.