HispanicBusiness

MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 05/07/13 -- Yellow Media Limited (TSX: Y) (the "Company") released its operational and financial results today for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013. The Company continues to make progress on its transformation into an industry- leading, digital media and marketing solutions company.

Revenues for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013 decreased 12.4% to $253.3 million, compared to $289.1 million last year. The decline is primarily due to lower print revenues and the discontinuation of duplicate directories published by Canpages. On a comparable basis, excluding Canpages, revenues decreased by 10.2% versus last year's results.

Digital revenues for the first quarter of 2013 grew to $98.9 million compared to $85.9 million the year prior, representing growth of 15.2%. On a comparable basis, excluding Canpages, digital revenues grew 20.1% versus the same period last year. Digital revenues represented approximately 39.1% of total revenues during the first quarter of 2013, compared to 29.7% for the same period in 2012.

Continued growth in digital revenues is currently unable to offset print revenue declines. This is a result of challenges associated with migrating print revenues towards digital products and services, predominantly amongst larger advertisers. The Company also continues to experience a decline in advertiser acquisition.

As at March 31, 2013, the number of advertisers was 300,000. This compares to 333,000 advertisers, excluding Canpages, at the same period last year. The advertiser renewal rate fell slightly from 87% in the first quarter of 2012 to 86% in the first quarter of 2013, while advertiser acquisition over the past twelve months declined to approximately 14,700 for the period ending March 31, 2013 from approximately 23,000 last year.

"Despite continued pressure in print revenues, our digital revenues continue to grow at a steady pace", said Marc P. Tellier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Yellow Media. "As we work towards growing overall revenues, our near term focus lies in properly addressing the needs of our larger clients through enhanced servicing and the introduction of new digital products. We will also be focused on developing dedicated acquisition channels to acquire valuable customers and address our falling advertiser acquisition rate. Execution of these projects is key in promoting Yellow Media's long- term success."

EBITDA declined to $115.5 million during the first quarter of 2013, as compared to $144.9 million last year. This is due principally to print revenue pressure. The EBITDA margin for the first quarter declined from 50.1% in 2012 to 45.6% in 2013.

"We expect EBITDA margins to gradually decline from current levels due to a shift in revenue mix and investments required to advance the Company's digital transformation," said Ginette Maille, Chief Financial Officer of Yellow Media.

Free cash flow for the first quarter increased from $14.2 million in 2012 to $67.7 million in 2013, attributable to favorable working capital inflows, lower interest payments, and lower income taxes paid, partly offset by lower EBITDA.