UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): December 31, 2009
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LEE ENTERPRISES, INCORPORATED
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
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Commission File Number 1-6227
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Delaware (State of Incorporation) |
42-0823980 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
201 N. Harrison Street, Davenport, Iowa 52801
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)
(563) 383-2100
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code
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Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
o Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)
o Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)
o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))
o Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))
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Item 8.01. |
Other Events. |
On December 31, 2009, the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (the “Company”), Mary E. Junck, sent a letter to the Company’s stockholders discussing, among other matters, the Company’s top accomplishments in 2009. A copy of the letter is attached as Exhibit 99.1 and information from the letter is hereby incorporated by reference.
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Item 9.01. |
Financial Statements and Exhibits. |
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(d) |
Exhibits |
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99.1 |
Letter to the stockholders of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated from its Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer dated December 31, 2009
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
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LEE ENTERPRISES, INCORPORATED
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Date: December 31, 2009 |
By: |
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Carl G. Schmidt |
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Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, |
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and Treasurer |
INDEX TO EXHIBITS
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Exhibit No. |
Descriptions |
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99.1 |
Letter to the stockholders of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated from its Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer dated December 31, 2009 |
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Exhibit 99.1 - Letter to the stockholders of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated from its Chairman, President and Chief |
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Executive Officer dated December 31, 2009 |
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201 N. Harrison St Davenport, IA 52801 www.lee.net |
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Mary Junck Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (563) 383-2100 |
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December 31, 2009
Dear Lee Stockholder:
Since my last letter six months ago, a few rays of sunshine have begun peeking through the clouds.
As we enter 2010, advertising sales trends have improved, making us hopeful that the turnaround has begun. Although it’s too soon to predict when year-over-year revenue comparisons will turn positive, we expect our aggressive cost reductions will enable meaningful earnings growth when they do.
While we would never want to repeat 2009, we take encouragement from these accomplishments:
TOP ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2009
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1. |
Exceptional fortitude, perseverance and teamwork have shined throughout the company, reinforcing our ability to emerge strong when the recession ends. |
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2. |
Debt refinancing and reduction – We executed a comprehensive refinancing of $1.3 billion of bank and private placement debt in arguably the worst financing environment since the Great Depression. Our principal payments in 2009 totaled $164 million. |
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3. |
Cost savings – We reduced cash costs by $150 million, or 18.3%, with savings across all enterprises and in virtually all cost categories, which helped us return to profitability in the last quarter of fiscal 2009. |
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4. |
Streamlined operations – We re-engineered traditional ways of doing business, including selective outsourcing and insourcing of printing, production and distribution; creation of regional call centers, and regionalization of human resources. |
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5. |
Increased market share – Through an intense focus on innovative sales programs, we took an estimated $35 million of advertising revenue from competitors. |
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6. |
Improved online infrastructure – We created and deployed a powerful content management system that has provided dynamic new online tools and enabled a significant new capability, the delivery of behaviorally targeted advertising (BT). |
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7. |
Massive BT launch – Our mid-summer kickoff of behavioral targeted advertising generated more than $4 million of new online advertising commitments in the last two months of fiscal 2009 and set the stage for aggressive sales campaigns in 2010. |
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8. |
New page width – Through intense collaboration, our editors redesigned our pages to a reduced width of 11 inches, gaining approval from readers and advertisers. Through that and other actions, we reduced newsprint usage 31%. |
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9. |
Strong audiences – We maintained or grew strong print and online audiences, reaching more than three-fourths of adults in many markets, by emphasizing vital, compelling and unmatched local journalism. |
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10. |
Industry leader in revenue – With an intense sales culture and unending stream of initiatives, we again led the industry in advertising revenue performance by nearly 5 percentage points. |
(over)
In my letter last summer, I mentioned that Lee planned to launch a locally focused public relations campaign to combat the continuing, irrational negativity about the future of newspapers. We’ve summarized the campaign on a business card. The cards are customized in every market, but their facts all bear out the same message: In a time of rapidly evolving digital interactivity, our newspapers and online sites remain in front, by far, surpassing all print, broadcast and online competitors as the primary source of local news, information and advertising in our communities. I am enclosing the Lee-wide card and a sampling from several markets. If you’d like to receive a full set covering all of Lee’s 53 daily newspapers, please let me know, or you can view them at www.lee.net/firstbest.
Since September, our employees have distributed nearly a hundred thousand cards – informally to neighbors and friends at backyard barbecues and in driveway conversations, as well as more formally in presentations and mailings to advertisers and community leaders. The response has been overwhelmingly positive. Many of our neighbors, advertisers and other friends have expressed surprise in learning the full size of our audience and, especially, our strength with young adults. In some locations, our messages have helped reverse ill-informed public statements by opinion makers.
Among examples, one of our publishers helped a nationally prominent U.S. senator understand that his proclamations about the impending death of newspapers were misinformed and that we do not, in fact, need public assistance. Another publisher armed a college dean with facts so his future lectures would no longer lament that young people don’t read newspapers. Another publisher helped set straight a nationally syndicated cartoonist, who responded that he was grateful to learn that newspapers are not falling off a cliff.
Certainly, our business is challenging and changing, but Lee is helping lead the change, through daily innovation throughout our company, cutting-edge technology and key alliances in the industry. As technology and media use continue to evolve, we fully intend to remain “First. Best. Today. Tomorrow.”
On behalf of Lee’s board of directors and our employees, I want to thank you very much for keeping faith in our company during this challenging time.
With very best wishes for the new year,
Mary Junck
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
Enc.: “First. Best. Today. Tomorrow.” cards
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS – The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for forward-looking statements. This letter contains information that may be deemed forward-looking, that is based largely on Lee Enterprises, Incorporated's current expectations, and is subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. Among such risks, trends and other uncertainties, which in some instances are beyond its control, are the Company's ability to generate cash flows and maintain liquidity sufficient to service its debt, and comply with or obtain amendments or waivers of the financial covenants contained in its credit facilities, if necessary. Other risks and uncertainties include the impact and duration of continuing adverse economic conditions, changes in advertising demand, potential changes in newsprint and other commodity prices, energy costs, interest rates and the availability of credit due to instability in the credit markets, labor costs, legislative and regulatory rulings, difficulties in achieving planned expense reductions, maintaining employee and customer relationships, increased capital costs, competition and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's publicly filed documents, including the Company Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 27, 2009. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "may," "will," "would," "could," "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "projects," "considers" and similar expressions) generally should be considered forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are made as of the date of this report. The Company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements.
