Gannett Co Inc (GCI) 2015 Q4 法說會逐字稿

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  • Operator

  • Good morning, my name is [Johnna] and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the New Media fourth quarter earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise.

  • After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. (Operator Instructions) Sara Yakin with Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

  • Sara Yakin - IR

  • Thank you, Johnna, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to New Media's fourth quarter 2015 earnings call. Joining us today are Mike Reed, New Media's CEO and President; Greg Freiberg, our CFO; and Kirk Davis, our COO of New Media.

  • I would like to call your attention to the earnings supplement that was posted to New Media's website this morning. If you have not already done so I would suggest that you download it now.

  • Briefly, before we begin, please let me remind you that statements made today are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements. These statements by nature are uncertain and may differ materially from actual results. We encourage you to read the forward-looking statements disclaimer in the presentation as well as the risk factors described in New Media's filings made with the SEC.

  • Lastly, I would like to remind you that nothing on this call constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any interest in New Media. The webcast and audio cast is copyrighted material of New Media and may not be duplicated, reproduced or rebroadcast without our consent.

  • With that, I would like to turn the call over to Mike.

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Thank you, Sara. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on our call this morning. Q4 was a very strong quarter for the Company with a lot of activity that we'll review this morning. And it really marked a solid finish to a successful year for our company.

  • As Sara mentioned, we did post a supplement to our website this morning and I'm going to reference that throughout the call. And starting on page 2 of that presentation, I want to start with a quick summary of the Company this morning, who we are and our road map for value creation for shareholders.

  • Today, New Media is a leader in the large and fragmented local newspaper industry. And, in fact, the largest owner of daily newspapers in the country. Our portfolio of local media assets are the long-standing dominant sources of comprehensive, high-quality local news in the towns they serve.

  • This keeps our products relevant and valuable to both consumers and businesses in our markets. We own and operate over 560 community publications, including 124 daily newspapers. We're located in over 485 markets across 31 states in the US.

  • Our vast presence across the country gives great diversification, as we are not overly exposed to any one customer, product or market. Since becoming a public company nearly two years ago now, New Media's business model has remained consistent and importantly, we have executed on all facets of our strategy.

  • Our business opportunity, which we believe will create tremendous value for shareholders over time, can be summarized in three parts. First, grow our revenue and cash flows organically through new business initiatives, digital initiatives, and improved content in consumer subscription products.

  • Our ability to leverage our strong and trusted local brands and our in-market local presence and sales force gives us a very important strategic advantage in all of our markets.

  • Second, we are value-oriented buyers and make accretive and strategic acquisitions to create inorganic growth. And we are doing this in an out-of-favor and fragmented sector which we believe creates an exciting and compelling opportunity.

  • And finally, we returned cash to shareholders in the form of a dividend supported by our strong cash flows and our healthy margins. Our core newspaper business generates significant recurring cash flow and as we grow our business and distribute a portion of that cash flow to shareholders with a dividend, we believe we will continue to create very compelling total returns for our shareholders. This is our recipe for success.

  • In addition to our traditional print and digital assets, we also have Propel which is an exciting and fast-growing digital marketing services business that helps small and medium sized businesses build a presence, get found, and engage with their customers online.

  • We believe New Media is uniquely positioned to partner with local businesses, given our physical local presence, our full product suite, our dedicated client services, and our experienced digital staff.

  • Propel is the fastest growing segment of our company and importantly, as it continues to scale, Propel is positioned to become a major contributor to New Media's future organic growth, both revenue and cash flow.

  • Finally, our acquisition strategy is driving tremendous inorganic growth for our company. With over $635 million of deals closed since inception, a robust pipeline for future acquisitions, and around $180 million of cash to be deployed in 2016, we believe New Media is well-positioned to continue to consolidate the fragmented newspaper industry.

  • We are further bolstered by our operating strategy, our size, scale, unique centralized services platform, and deep expertise in acquiring and integrating newspaper assets. We are also in a very strong position from a liquidity standpoint but importantly, we remain committed to being value-oriented buyers.

  • Now I'd like to turn to page 3 and discuss highlights from the quarter and the year. Our performance in the fourth quarter marks another very strong quarter for the Company with total revenues increasing 78.6% versus prior year, and decreasing 5.3% on a same store basis.

  • Digital revenue continues to be our strongest growth driver, increasing 11.3% on a same store basis in the quarter, reaching $29.6 million for the quarter. Propel, a subcategory of digital revenue, generated $9.4 million in the quarter, and increased an impressive 68.1% to the prior year on a same store basis.

  • We are very pleased to see that as Propel continues to scale and becomes much larger, our growth trends are not slowing. As stated on previous calls, while accretive acquisitions are driving the Company's near-term growth, we believe that as Propel continues to scale, the business is well-positioned to become a meaningful and positive contributor to our overall revenue and cash flow trends.

  • Additionally, as new revenue streams are developed, we continue to see a path for the Company to achieve long-term organic revenue growth before the end of 2017.

  • As adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow and free cash flow per share increased 58.2%, 63.6%, and 37.1% respectively. It's important to note, free cash flow per share increased $0.28 in the quarter, despite an additional 7.2 million shares outstanding in the fourth quarter this year.

  • This nearly 40% increase in free cash flow per share on a higher share count clearly demonstrates the growth we are generating for our shareholders with our accretive acquisitions.

  • During the quarter, we announced the sale of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and related publications for $140 million, and I'll cover that more in just a moment. Including the gain from the sale of Las Vegas, free cash flow and free cash flow per share were $88.4 million and $1.98 per share, representing an increase of $60.5 million and an increase of $1.23 per share versus Q4 last year. Very strong results.

  • Our sale of Las Vegas further demonstrates our ability to strategically execute on transactions that are in the best interest of our shareholders, leading to outsize returns when compared to alternative media investment options.

  • Finally, I'm pleased to report this morning that New Media's Board of Directors authorized a fourth quarter dividend of $0.33 per share, or when annualized, $1.32 per share, which is 10% higher than prior year, further demonstrating the returns we are generating for our shareholders.

  • Given the accretive nature of our acquisitions and the large amount of synergies we are extracting from those acquisitions, we remain confident in our ability to continue to grow free cash flow and our dividend despite the current single digit revenue declines.

  • And as mentioned earlier, Q4 was a very productive quarter for New Media with a lot of exciting things going on. And for an overview of the three transactions we completed in the quarter, I'm going to turn to page 4 of the supplement.

  • In early December, New Media announced that we completed the sale of the Las Vegas Review-Journal and concurrently announced the agreement to acquire two local media assets in separate transactions.

  • First, the Review-Journal was sold on December 10th for $140 million, or 7 times LTM pro-forma as adjusted EBITDA, resulting in a 69% gain for our company on the transaction. We had acquired the Review-Journal back in March of 2015.

  • As a reminder, this asset was purchased as part of the Stephens Media acquisition. We used existing tax assets to shield gains from the sale and I'm also pleased to report that we still have sizable tax assets going forward that will continue to shield us from becoming a significant taxpayer over the next several years. And you'll hear more about the tax assets from Greg later on in the call.

  • Regarding the management agreement that was announced with the sale of Las Vegas, we have recently mutually agreed with the buyer to move that to a transitional services agreement.

  • During the fourth quarter, New Media also announced and has since closed two local media acquisitions for $46.5 million. The first acquisition to close in Q1 was Dolan, a leading provider of industry-specific news for the legal, financial, real estate and government affairs sectors.

  • In addition to providing subscribers with content relevant to their daily professional activities, Dolan also develops, organizes, and produces events centered on awards and education seminars.

  • Today, Dolan serves 17 markets across the US and we see a tremendous opportunity to leverage its publications, its events business, and subscriber base throughout New Media's footprint.

  • We see a great expansion opportunity for Propel through Dolan's audience of over 46,000 paid subscribers who are predominantly service-oriented business owners, ideal Propel customers.

  • This business was acquired for $35 million, or 2.8 times the seller's LTM pro-forma as adjusted EBITDA. With synergies, we would expect this multiple to be reduced even further from 2.8.

  • The second deal to close in Q1 was the Erie Times-News for $11.5 million, or 2.5 times LTM pro-forma as adjusted EBITDA. Again, the seller's EBITDA. The award-winning local newspaper was first published in 1888 and has been owned by its founding family for more than 125 years.

  • We look forward to continuing the strong local traditions and local journalism as those carried out by the Mead family. And are grateful that they chose our company as the right home for their newspaper, its employees, and the community.

  • The publication today in Erie reaches more than 90% of adults in its market over a 30 day period and their website, GoErie.com, has a 75% market share in local digital page views. Today, the flagship newspaper has an average weekday circulation of over 39,000, and a Sunday circulation of over 55,000. This is a great addition to our family of newspapers.

  • We believe these three transactions demonstrate our continued commitment and ability to create value for shareholders. These three deals left New Media with approximately the same amount of free cash flow but allowed us to put more than $80 million of cash on the balance sheet, which will lead to even more future growth for the Company, which we'll discuss in just a second. But just to reiterate, these three transactions left the Company with the same amount of free cash flow but allowed us to take $80 million of cash to the balance sheet.

  • Now, giving effect to these transactions and our larger liquidity position now as a result, we thought it would be useful to walk through the potential free cash flow per share the Company has in front of it in 2016. And for that, I'm going to turn to page 5.

  • Today, our core business continues to produce strong cash flows and healthy profit margins. With approximately $180 million of cash to be deployed throughout 2016, we believe New Media is well-positioned to remain a disciplined buyer while consolidating the out-of-favor and fragmented local media newspaper market.

  • Using just cash on hand for investments over the next 12 months, New Media is capable of generating an incremental dollar of free cash flow per share. Using additional leverage of $180 million, New Media can add another approximately $0.63 of free cash flow per share, bringing our total free cash flow per share to more than $4.50.

  • As a reminder, back in the third quarter earnings call we stated that with a combination of our cash on hand and new incremental debt, New Media could generate a total of $4.17 of free cash flow per share. The increase of $0.36 from then to now, moving us to $4.53, demonstrates how profitable the last three transactions were that I just discussed.

  • As we grow free cash flow through organic and inorganic acquisition initiatives, we see the opportunity to continue to grow our dividend while simultaneously lowering our payout ratio. Since Q2 of 2014, New Media has consistently paid out a reasonable portion of its free cash flow as the Company has grown through accretive acquisitions.

  • Though top lines trends are declining a bit today, we expect our revenue trends to improve, gradually moving towards flat within the next two years. In the meantime, we believe we can shield our cash flows from top line to con -- declines through measured expense reductions at our acquired properties.

  • With our dividend at approximately 45% of pro-forma free cash flow, the dividend is very secure and we see no risk of the dividend being reduced.

  • Now let's talk about our two most exciting growth opportunities. The first being Propel, the biggest and most exciting part of our digital strategy. And for that, I'm going to turn to page 6.

  • Propel is our full suite digital marketing service business that helps small and medium sized businesses navigate the complex digital sector and better position them for success. Q4 was another solid quarter for Propel with revenue of $9.4 million, an increase of 68.1% versus the prior year.

  • Full year revenue of $31.3 million increased from $18.5 million in 2014. And as a reminder, in 2013, revenue from Propel was $6.4 million, highlighting the real growth we're seeing with this business.

  • Contract sales in the fourth quarter were just over $12 million, and increased 65% versus last year's fourth quarter. And when you annualize the fourth quarter contract sales this year, you get over $48 million.

  • And contract sales are a great leading indicator for future revenue performance because they represent services that we have already sold but not yet fulfilled. And subsequently not yet booked as revenue.

  • We continue to believe Propel has the potential to become a significant revenue stream for New Media as we expand our product offerings, further utilize our sales force to penetrate our markets, and enter new markets. Looking at our performance versus past quarters, our results are showing that we are moving quickly in this direction.

  • In addition to the tremendous organic growth from Propel, we are also realizing incredible returns on the acquisitions we have completed. And to discuss that, I'm going to turn to page 7 of the presentation.

  • To date, we have completed 12 acquisitions with a gross purchase price of nearly $640 million. And these acquisitions have been funded predominantly with cash on our balance sheet and incremental debt on our term loan.

  • Importantly, we view these two sources of capital as our primary sources of capital for future acquisitions. Further, we are very comfortable that these two sources of capital can provide more than enough liquidity to allow us to execute on our strategy.

  • The acquisitions have been completed at an average of 3.9 times the seller's LTM as adjusted EBITDA and had unlevered yields of 24% and leveraged yields of 32%. Our track record highlights our ability to execute on our acquisition strategy well within our targeted range of 3.5 times to 4.5 times the seller's EBITDA. So obviously before synergies.

  • After factoring in over $40 million of estimated net cost synergies with our acquisitions, our purchase price multiple reduces to nearly 3.1 times as adjusted EBITDA. And our unleveraged yields increase to 30%. And importantly, our leveraged yields increase to 41%. Really impressive numbers and great value creation opportunity for our shareholders.

  • The sale of Las Vegas in the fourth quarter further demonstrates our ability to create value for shareholders as we execute on great and strategic transactions. With over 1,300 daily newspapers in the United States and approximately 350 different owners of those newspapers, we continue to believe there's a great opportunity to consolidate the fragmented newspaper oper -- industry.

  • Now what I'd like to do is turn the call over to Greg for a detailed look at our financial results for the quarter and a review of the tax assets that I discussed a little while ago. Greg?

  • Greg Freiberg - CFO

  • Thank you, Mike. And good morning, everyone. I'm now turning to page 9 of the supplement.

  • Total revenues for the quarter were $333.6 million, an increase of 78.6% to prior year on a reported basis and a decrease of 5.3% on a same store basis. Digital revenue continues to be a very strong category, growing 11.3% on a same store basis to $29.6 million.

  • With Propel contributing $9.4 million, which was up $3.8 million or 68.1% versus the prior year. Full year Propel in 2015 revenue was $31.3 million, compared to $18.5 million in 2014. And annualized Q4 revenue performance for Propel is $37.8 million.

  • If I take the fourth quarter contract sales which came in at $12 million and annualize those, $48.2 million run rate, that highlights the tremendous acceleration going on at Propel. As Propel gets bigger, our growth rate is not slowing, which is very encouraging.

  • Traditional print revenue declined 10.5% on a same store basis to $174.2 million, impacted by continued pressure on local print advertising and preprints, which declined 11.7% and 11.5% respectively.

  • The decline in preprints reflects the challenges the retail sector is currently facing, leading to major retailers decreasing their volume and closing stores in our markets, a trend that has been seen across the country this year.

  • Classified print revenue decreased 7% on a same store basis. However, obituaries and legals revenue continue to be stable subcategories and currently comprise over 35% of total classified print revenue.

  • Circulation, our largest revenue category at over 30% of total revenues, increased 2% on a same store basis, driven by targeted promotions and systematic price increases to drive incremental revenue.

  • Finally, commercial print and other revenue decreased 11% to prior year on a same store basis. However, 44% of this decline in the category was self-inflicted, driven by recent acquisitions shifting from external print relationships to inter-company revenues as newspapers are now part of New Media.

  • Operating income was $66.7 million, an increase of $49.2 million to prior year. Net income was $56.4 million in the quarter, an improvement of $44.9 million to prior year. Despite continued pressure on our traditional print advertising categories, we did a great job controlling costs and realizing synergies from acquisitions which led to our as adjusted EBITDA of $54.3 million, an increase of $20 million or 58.2% over the prior year on a reported basis.

  • Finally, free cash flow generated in the quarter was $45.6 million, an increase of $17.7 million, or 63.6% versus prior year. That's representing an impressive 84% cash conversion rate of EBITDA to free cash flow.

  • Free cash flow per basic share was $1.02, a $0.74 or 37.1% increase to prior year, despite an additional 7.2 million shares outstanding in the quarter. During the quarter, an impairment analysis was performed and subsequently a $4.8 million masthead impairment was identified.

  • This is a non-cash charge and it has no impact to our operating business. The impairment was related entirely to the legacy Gatehouse newspapers that were restructured in late 2013 and therefore had very little head room for intangibles valuations per specific accounting rules.

  • We ended the quarter with approximately $366 million of debt outstanding which is approximately $16 million lower than the balance last quarter. We paid off the drawn revolver balance of $15 million and through amortization, reduced our principal by an additional $1 million.

  • We have $146.6 million of cash on the balance sheet and $40 million of availability under our revolver. Net leverage against our Q4 pro-forma as adjusted EBITDA is 1.4 times, slightly lower than our long-term target leverage of 2.0 times.

  • Turning to page 10, I'd like to review our tax assets which shield New Media from becoming a significant federal income taxpayer in the near future driven by tax basis and net operating losses or NOLs.

  • As of December 27, our total tax basis is $918 million and we expect total tax depreciation and amortization of $117 million in 2016. Between 2017 to 2020, we expect additional depreciation and amortization of approximately $300 mill -- $391 million, decelerating annually. These amounts do not reflect additional tax bases we would get from future acquisitions as well as future capital expenditures.

  • In addition, New Media has approximately $181 million in net operating losses available. $111 million is subject to IRC 382 limitations which limits us to using a maximum of $17 million annually. $70 million is unrestricted and available for immediate use if necessary.

  • The chart on the bottom right side of this slide illustrates the way we think about utilizing these tax assets. And so starting from the bottom, the first $117 million of taxable income is shielded by the tax basis depreciation. Then we would utilize the restricted NOLs and then finally, the unrestricted NOLs.

  • Therefore, New Media does not expect to be a significant federal income taxpayer in the near future. We believe there's pretty compelling value for shareholders in our tax assets and that's not reflected in our share price.

  • In summary, Q4 was a very strong quarter for New Media. We feel great about the assets we own today, our platform, our capital structure, liquidity, and our strong cash flow performance. And we feel well-positioned to continue to execute on all aspects of our strategy which we believe will create tremendous value for our shareholders.

  • Operator, we'd now like to open the call up for questions.

  • Operator

  • Okay. (Operator Instructions) Jason Bazinet, Citi.

  • Jason Bazinet - Analyst

  • Yes, just a couple quick questions. Are you -- do you guys still plan to do $1 billion of M&A in total by the end of this year? In other words, about $360 million in 2016? That's my first question.

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Yes, Jason. Hi, it's Mike. We have the capital, as we just outlined, to do $360 million of acquisitions through cash on hand and additional leverage sticking within the parameters of how we've executed on our first 12 deals. However, we're not going to force a deal just to get to $1 billion. We'll continue to make good strategic buys when the opportunities present themselves.

  • Jason Bazinet - Analyst

  • Okay. And then I think you guys talked about in the past maybe exploring opportunities to pledge some of your real estate as collateral to lower your interest cost. Is that still on the table or did we run into roadblocks on that front? Thanks.

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • We're still reviewing the opportunities there. We have three or four different scenarios that we are taking a look at. Obviously, the troubled debt markets have slowed us down a bit. And so we want to make sure that when we do something, it's in the best interests of our company and for shareholders. So we're taking our time to review options. And we'll execute when the timing is best.

  • Jason Bazinet - Analyst

  • Okay. Thank you very much.

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Thanks, Jason.

  • Operator

  • Jim Goss, Barrington Research.

  • Jim Goss - Analyst

  • Thanks. I've got a couple of questions about the Dolan acquisition. I have some familiarity with it, having followed it in the past. And I was wondering, do they still have a big focus on legal publishing and also on public notices? Because it seems like it would tie into the classified strength that you said was -- has been maintained. Not with obits as much but the legal notices.

  • And then I was also wondering about the matching of markets for Dolan versus the traditional New Media properties. I think Dolan tended to be in larger markets and you're tending to concentrate on smaller markets. Is that still true? But does that open up opportunities sort of cross-fertilization?

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Yes. Thanks, Jim. Hi. The first part of your question, the legal revenue is a part of the Dolan company for sure. A little bit less than a third of their revenue comes from legal advertising. And as you noted, it's been a very stable category for us and for Dolan.

  • So we're happy about that for sure. But the real excitement for us around the Dolan acquisition was twofold. One, they have a very successful events business that they're executing in small markets in and around where they have publications. And we see a lot of opportunity to leverage that events business across New Media on a broader basis.

  • And then secondly and more importantly, their paid subscriber base, different from our newspapers, our paid subscribers, our consumers, their paid subscribers are local service-oriented business owners. And those are the ideal customers for Propel.

  • So we think their 50,000 paid subscribers who are paying for the products and therefore looking at them are ideal candidates for Propel. And will further kind of accelerate the growth opportunities that we have for Propel.

  • Second part of your question, so those are the two things, Jim, that we're most excited about with Dolan. The thing about the markets is they're in slightly bigger markets, for sure. But their publications are very small and very niche oriented where they serve a small, defined set of consu -- of business owners as customers.

  • And so what we do have is an opportunity on the cost side to look at printing opportunities. We do have presses that are within striking distance of being able to print many of their publications. And so it doesn't signify a change in strategy for us. Don't expect us to start buying metro market newspapers because these specific publications are in some larger markets.

  • This is more of a very strategic asset that we think has great expansion opportunity for New Media both in terms of how we leverage what Dolan does as well as our ability to leverage Propel into Dolan.

  • Jim Goss - Analyst

  • Okay. And just sort of tying into that, is there a -- does it make any sense to have sort of adjunct type publications within your smaller markets, even on a regional basis, in that there are legal communities in those areas and you can leverage some of the content they have and maybe tie into more of that legal notice business? Or is that sort of a crazy thought?

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • It's not a crazy thought. It's not at the forefront of what we see as the biggest opportunities, though. But Dolan no less is a platform now, Jim. And there are other business publications that can be acquired at these incredibly low prices.

  • So we now have a good platform to continue to make a great acquisition. So we think more about the growth opportunities in the event side. Leveraging events, leveraging Propel and having a platform for future acquisitions for these types of publications.

  • Jim Goss - Analyst

  • Okay. In a different area, what is the mix of usage of your publications between print and online? And do all users get the print product in your markets?

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Our -- not sure I completely understand your question, Jim. But all of our print subscribers are automatically digital subscribers. They get an access code and utilize the digital subscription as well. It's a part of the value of their print subscription, though. So they are multi-platformed users, if you will. Only a small percentage of our paid subscriber base, less than 10%, are digital-only subscribers today.

  • Jim Goss - Analyst

  • I guess I was just wondering if in your types of markets, if the usage patterns are different from the bigger markets. I suspect they are and that's probably what gives you the sustainability you have in those markets. But that was sort of the question.

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Yes. I don't know, Jim, that the user habits are dramatically different. What gives us the long-term sustainability and the differentiator between what we're doing and what's happening in larger markets is hyper local news that consumers in that market can't get anywhere else. But that they -- but yet they care greatly about.

  • So it's hard in a metro market to really get hyper local with hundreds of suburbs. But in a small town, you are the lifeblood of the community through the coverage of local news. That's the real differentiator in our model.

  • It's not so much whether consumers view us in print or online. It's that they actually view us and that our penetration rates are high because of the type of content we serve. Our penetration rates with print and digital combined in most of our markets are above 70% of adults in the community. So that's the differentiator, Jim.

  • Jim Goss - Analyst

  • Right. And I absolutely, I can understand that. And lastly, just looking at the map of your reach across 31 states, does synergy -- does geography impact synergy? And therefore does it make it better or worse to acquire properties within the areas you're currently serving? Or is the -- are the other roughly 20 states fair game?

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • The other roughly 20 states are fair game. Certainly when we acquire properties in geographies where we already own properties, there's even more synergy than exp -- than going into a new geography. But there are very compelling reasons to go into a new geography as well.

  • So there are synergy opportunities with both. The synergy opportunities are obviously improved when we're already in that geography.

  • Jim Goss - Analyst

  • Okay. Thanks very much, Mike.

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Thanks, Jim.

  • Operator

  • Amy DeBone, Compass Point.

  • Amy DeBone - Analyst

  • Hi, congrats on the strong quarter.

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Hi, Amy. Thank you.

  • Amy DeBone - Analyst

  • So in terms of the same store sales decline of 5.7% excluding tuck-ins this quarter, do you think that that was impacted by the composition of revenue given that there are higher advertising revs in the fourth quarter?

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Yes, for sure. Print adv -- it's a bigger quarter from a print advertising standpoint because of the holidays. And that's obviously where the weakness in our company is. So that on a kind of temporary basis contributes to slightly weaker results. But in totality, our results were really on par with Q3 and didn't see any further erosion.

  • Amy DeBone - Analyst

  • Right. But then all else equal, we can kind of expect that metric to be stronger maybe in the first quarter or first half of the year, assuming everything else is equal?

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Yes, we certainly hope. I mean, that's our plan as we march towards stabilization. Before the end of 2017, we would expect trends to be improving, not worsening.

  • Greg Freiberg - CFO

  • Amy, it's Greg. And I'd just caution against picking a particular quarter. But if you open up the lens in -- over the course of the full year, absolutely we expect you'll see trends improve.

  • Amy DeBone - Analyst

  • Okay. Great. And then excluding the Review-Journal gain, would incent -- what would incentive income have been for the fourth quarter?

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • $7.3 million.

  • Amy DeBone - Analyst

  • Okay. And then just two quick metrics. What was the equity basis used to calculate incentive income for the year? And then what was the equity basis for incentive income as of the end of 2015? So heading into 2016.

  • Greg Freiberg - CFO

  • It's actually the same number, $645 million.

  • Amy DeBone - Analyst

  • Okay. All right, thank you.

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Yes. Thanks, Amy.

  • Operator

  • There are no further questions in the queue at this time. I'll turn the call back over to Mike Reed, CEO of New Media.

  • Mike Reed - President and CEO

  • Thank you. So as we look ahead to the rest of 2016 and beyond, we believe New Media will continue to generate significant recurring cash flow which will support our dividend and our growth opportunities both through acquisition and our organic initiatives.

  • In 2015, New Media generated actual full year free cash flow per share of nearly $2.90. We acquired additional assets in early 2016 and with cash on hand have the ability to grow free cash flow per share to nearly $4. With additional leverage, we can further grow to over $4.50 per share within the next 12 months.

  • At our current share price and implied dividend yield, we believe our story continues to be misunderstood by investors. Given our increased liquidity, growing dividend, established track record of sourcing deals, success at growing digital revenue, and our stable free cash flow, we believe New Media remains a very attractive total return vehicle that will drive substantial value-creation for our shareholders in the near and long terms.

  • Thank you for your interest in New Media and for your time this morning. And we look forward to updating you in just a couple months on our Q1 results. Thank you.

  • Operator

  • This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.