Lee Enterprises, Incorporated

Welcome to the Lee Enterprises 2022 fourth quarter webcast and conference call. This call is being recorded and will be available for replay at investors.lee.net. At the close of the planned remarks, there will be an opportunity for questions. Participants accessing the call by the webcast may submit written questions through the website and they will be answered during the call as time permits. Otherwise, you will receive a response later. A link to the live webcast can be found at investors.lee.net. Now we'll turn the call over to your host, Josh Reitholtz, Vice President of Finance.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. Speaking on this morning's call are Kevin Mowbray, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Tim Millich, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer. Also with us today and available for questions is Nathan Becky, Vice President, Audience Strategy. Earlier today, we issued a news release with preliminary results for our fourth fiscal quarter of 2022. It is available at we.net as well as at major financial websites. Please also refer to our earnings presentation found at investors.we.net that includes supplemental information. As a reminder, this morning's discussion will include forward-looking statements based on our current expectations. These statements are subject to certain risks, trends, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Such factors are... described in this morning's news release and also in our SEC filings. During the call, we refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA and cash costs, which are defined in our news release. Reconciliations to the relevant GAAP measures are included in tables accompanying the release. And now to open the discussion is our President and Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Mowbray. Kevin will open the conversation on slide three of the earnings presentation for those following along.

Good morning, everyone. I'm pleased you could join us. The lead team delivered another strong quarter with continued execution on our three-pillar digital growth strategy. And I'm really encouraged at the pace by which we're transforming Leigh into a vibrant, digitally-centric company. Our fourth quarter results exceeded all of our digital revenue guidance, and we achieved our full-year adjusted EBITDA guidance as well. Our ability to exceed expectations and produce industry-leading results demonstrates the success of our strategy, resiliency of our business model support leads investment thesis, and increases our conviction in achieving our long-term goals. In the fourth quarter, we grew digitally subscribers 32%, the 12th consecutive quarter of industry-leading growth. We're also encouraged that we grew average rates for our digital-only subscriptions driving fourth quarter digital subscription revenue up 46% year over year. Digital money subscription revenue grew 42% for the full year. We exceeded our digital subscriber guidance with 532,000 digital subscribers at the end of the quarter and revenue outpaced guidance as well. On the advertising side, we exceeded all of our digital revenue guidance matrix, and we achieved industry-leading digital revenue results. Amplified digital revenue grew 82% in the fourth quarter and 83% for the full year, with revenue totaling $76 million for the fiscal year, facing well ahead of other DMS solutions in the industry and our guidance. I couldn't be more proud of the lead team for achieving results that lead the industry exceed our guidance, and further transform Lee into a vibrant, digitally-centric company. Lee is the fastest-growing digital subscription platform with industry-leading digital subscription growth metrics for the last 12 consecutive quarters. With more than 530,000 digital subscribers today, our strong growth is attributed to the attractiveness of our digital product offerings, and we've just scratched the surface of our vast addressable market. In addition to growing digital audiences and engagement, we offer a full suite of omnichannel advertising and marketing solutions to local and regional advertisers through Amplified. We created Amplified from scratch several years ago, and we're seeing tremendous industry-leading results. Revenue at Amplified increased 82% in the fourth quarter and totaled $76 million for the fiscal year, with growth rates more than six times the nearest industry peer. Amplified is key to our growth strategy given the significant size of the addressable market. As a result of driving industry-leading digital growth, total digital revenue for the fiscal year was $240 million, up 27% compared to the prior year, and accelerating from the 19% compound annual growth rate over the last two years. We're rapidly transforming the mix of our revenue, and in the fourth quarter, total digital revenue represented 33% of our total operating revenue. 2022 was a successful year, Lee. I couldn't be more proud of this team for their strategic thinking and operational excellence that has allowed our company to be agile during times of uncertainty, the steadfast commitment toward delivering on our three-pillar digital growth strategy, and the rapid execution of our plans to drive value for our shareholders. Before I go deeper into our strategy later on in the presentation, I will turn the call over to Tim to discuss fourth quarter and fiscal year results in more detail.