Tribune Publishing Co. total revenues in the 2015 fourth quarter grew 1% to $462 million over the prior-year quarter.
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Advertising revenues declined 1.9% to $268 million in the 2015 fourth quarter and, excluding advertising revenues from The San Diego Union-Tribune of $23 million and the $5 million impact of the CareerBuilder reclassifications, declined 8.7% versus the 2014 fourth quarter.
Circulation revenues grew 10.1% to $122 million in the 2015 fourth quarter compared to the prior-year quarter, and were flat with the prior-year quarter excluding The San Diego Union-Tribune circulation revenues.
Other revenue declined $1.7 million as increases in Commercial Print and Delivery revenue, were offset by declines in Direct Mail and Marketing and Content Syndication and Other revenue.
Commercial Print and Delivery revenue increased $7 million due to an increase of $12 million resulting from an accounting reclassification and a decrease of $5 million, primarily due to the Chicago Suburban titles that were previously included in commercial business.
Direct Mail and Marketing revenues decreased $6 million due primarily to declines in Chicago. Full year 2015 total operating revenues were $1.673 billion, which is at the high end of previously provided guidance of $1.645 billion to $1.675 billion.
Total operating expenses, including depreciation and amortization, for the 2015 fourth quarter were $452 million and included a $46 million charge related to the Employee Voluntary Separation Program (EVSP), $13 million of other restructuring costs, and a net $7 million expense related to accounting reclassifications for 2015.
Compensation expenses increased in the 2015 fourth quarter, due to acquired property compensation, the EVSP and other restructuring and other net non-cash items. Adjusted Cash Compensation declined by $13 million or 8.5% during the fourth quarter of 2015 compared to prior year.
Operating expenses, adjusted to set apart management-directed savings in cash operating expenses as calculated below, resulted in Adjusted Cash Operating Expense savings of $19 million, a decline of 5.7%.
Net income (loss) for the 2015 fourth quarter was a $77 thousand loss, which included a pre-tax $46 million EVSP charge and $13 million of restructuring costs and other items.
Excluding the impact of these charges, adjusted net income increased to $35.3 million, up 35.0% for the 2015 fourth quarter.
Earnings per share for the 2015 fourth quarter, on a fully diluted basis, was break-even and included a pre-tax $46 million EVSP charge and $13 million of restructuring costs and other items.
Before the impact of these charges, adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 31.4% to $1.34 for the 2015 fourth quarter.
Net cash from operating activities for full year 2015 was $63 million and capital expenditures for the year were $32 million. ■