Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NASDAQ:LEE) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call March 2, 2023 10:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Josh Rinehults - Vice President, Finance
Kevin Mowbray - President and Chief Executive Officer
Timothy Millage - Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Michael Kupinski - NOBLE Capital Markets
Operator
Welcome to the Lee Enterprises 2023 First Quarter Webcast and Conference Call. The call is being recorded and will be available for replay at investors.lee.net. [Operator Instructions] A link to the live webcast can be found at investors.lee.net under the event section.
Now, I’ll turn the call over to your host, Josh Rinehults, Vice President, Finance.
Josh Rinehults
Good morning. Thank you for joining us. Speaking on this morning’s call are Kevin Mowbray, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Tim Millage, Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer.
Earlier today, we issued a news release with preliminary results for our first fiscal quarter of 2022. It is available at lee.net as well as at major financial websites. Please also refer to our earnings presentation found at investors.lee.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 3 of the earnings presentation for those following along.
Kevin Mowbray
Thank you, Josh, and good morning, everyone. I’m really encouraged at the pace by which we’re transforming Lee into a vibrant digitally centric company. We’re pleased with our strong digital subscription growth and digital subscribers now total 564,000, an increase of 25% compared to the prior year. We’re also driving higher rates as revenue from digital subscriptions increased 56% compared to the prior year. Digital advertising revenue increased 12% with Amplified Digital revenue of 45%.
Our first quarter results demonstrate strong digital growth with consistent execution of our Three Pillar Digital Growth Strategy. This execution is the foundation of our long-term investment thesis. Sustainable long-term digital revenue growth from our Three Pillar initiatives will transform the mix of our revenue base, driving margin expansion and stronger free cash flow generation, which will fuel debt reduction, enhancing our balance sheet. A stronger balance sheet and improved operating cash flow, combined with multiple expansion fueled by increasing digital revenue creates a strong path to significant long-term value creation for our shareholders.