Meredith Finally Reports Earnings and it's not Good
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A couple of days ago, FTVLive told you that Meredith was supposed to report the company’s earnings report but they ended up delaying that report.
More often than not when a company delays its earnings report, it’s not good news. And that was the case with Meredith.
They finally got around to reporting their earnings and it was not good, not good at all.
While most media groups have a strong last quarter showing some big profits, Meredith did not.
The company said that their station group (“Local Media”) saw operating profit drop 41.4% to $24.4 million from $41.6 million.
Meredith as a whole, reported quarterly total revenue of $702 million, down 6%.
CEO Tom Harty tried to paint a rosy picture on the bad news, “I believe Meredith will weather this difficult period and emerge in a stronger and more competitive position,” he said.
Meredith is cutting employees pay has instituted a hiring freeze and has done other cost-saving measures.
A year ago, Meredith’s stock price sat near $60 a share, now it sits around $11 bucks. Also, and most telling is that Meredithpaused its dividend on April 20. The dividend had been raised annually and paid out every quarter for 27 consecutive years.
When you stop paying out a dividend, which you had been doing for nearly 3 decades, that's not a streak you give up lightly, a clear indication the company is struggling.
