HispanicBusiness

As at December 31, 2012, the number of advertisers, excluding Canpages, was 309,000. During the year, the Company experienced an advertiser renewal rate of 86% and acquired approximately 17,000 new advertisers.

"Our business continues to experience a decline in revenues, as online growth is currently unable to fully compensate for print revenue pressure. This trend was expected, and we do not anticipate it to reverse in the near future. We're focused on delivering long-term value through improvement of services to larger advertisers, as well as on the successful execution of our 360 degrees Solution. Our Yellow Pages 360 degrees Solution addresses Canadian small to medium-sized enterprises' fundamental need to generate valuable leads to grow their business," continued Tellier.

EBITDA declined from $679.7 million in 2011 to $570.6 million in 2012, mainly attributable to print revenue pressure. The EBITDA margin for the year remained stable at 51.5%, compared to 51.1% last year. EBITDA margins are reflective of lower margins associated with our growing digital products, offset by the impact of our significant cost containment initiatives.

Free cash flow for the year decreased from $275.2 million in 2011 to $198.3 million, mainly attributable to lower EBITDA.

For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2012, the Company recorded a net loss of $2.0 billion. The net loss was affected by an impairment charge of $3.3 billion on our goodwill, and certain of our intangible assets and property, plant and equipment. This impairment charge was partly offset by a gain on settlement of debt pursuant to the Recapitalization of $978.6 million. In 2011, the Company recorded a net loss from continuing operations of $2.7 billion, which was impacted by a $2.9 billion goodwill impairment charge and a $50.3 million impairment of investment in associate.

For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2012, net earnings before impairment and the gain on settlement of debt decreased to $189.5 million, compared to net earnings from continuing operations before impairment of $222.8 million in 2011. Net earnings per share before impairment and gain on settlement of debt was of $6.02 for 2012, compared to net earnings per share from continuing operations before impairment of $8.98 last year.

Fourth Quarter 2012 Results

Fourth quarter revenues were $264.4 million, as compared to $313.3 million in the last quarter of 2011, mainly due to lower print revenues, the discontinuation of duplicate directories published by Canpages, the divestiture of LesPAC.com, and the sale of Deal of the Day. On a comparable basis, excluding the impact of the changes to the Canpages business, the LesPAC.com divestiture, the sale of Deal of the Day and YPG USA, fourth quarter revenues decreased by 9.7% versus last year's results.

Online revenues for the quarter were $99.7 million, as compared to $89.9 million in the last quarter of 2011. On a comparable basis, excluding the impact of the changes to the Canpages business, the LesPAC.com divestiture, the sale of Deal of the Day and YPG USA, fourth quarter online revenues grew by 20.9% versus last year's results.

EBITDA for the fourth quarter declined from $147.2 million in 2011 to $141.6 million, mainly attributable to print revenue pressure. The EBITDA margin for the quarter increased to 53.5%, as compared to 47.0% last year, as a result of various cost containment initiatives.

Free cash flow for the fourth quarter decreased from $78.2 million in 2011 to $48.0 million in 2012. The decrease was due to a lower EBITDA and higher cash interest paid pursuant to the Recapitalization, partly offset by lower cash taxes.