Q4 2006 ZIFF DAVIS HOLDINGS INC Earnings Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

OPERATOR: Hello, and welcome to today's teleconference. All lines are currently in a listen-only mode. Following today's presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS] Today's conference is being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to turn the call over to today's first presenter, Mr. Mark Moyer. Sir, you may begin.

MARK MOYER, SVP & CFO, ZIFF DAVIS HOLDINGS INC: Thank you, Ed. Welcome, everyone, to the Ziff Davis holdings fourth quarter 2006 financial results conference call. I trust everyone has reviewed our press release that we issued this morning. Please be advised, that all statements made on this call other than descriptions of historical results are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risk and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the statements. Such risk and uncertainties include the potential deterioration of the economic climate in general, and markets in which we operate, risk associated with acquisitions, competition, and seasonality, and other risks as discussed in our annual report on Form 10-K and in other filings made with the SEC. These filings are available on either our website or the SEC's website, and all the risk discussions in today's call are incorporated by reference. Forward-looking statements made on this call are based on current management expectations. Sometime after this call the Company might come to believe that certain of these statements are no longer accurate. However, the Company shall not have any obligation to publicly release any corrections or revisions to any of these statements.

Additionally, because it is relevant to our debt agreements and ability to service these agreements, we will be discussing our results in terms of EBITDA. EBITDA is defined as income before interest expense provision for income taxes, depreciation, and amortization expense, and certain nonrecurring and noncash charges. These charges include the write-down of intangible assets, restructuring charges, gains and losses on the sale of assets, gains and losses from equity investments, transaction-related costs, and acquisition-related compensation and other noncash compensation. EBITDA is not a measure of performance under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, and a reconciliation of EBITDA to our income or loss from operations, which is a GAAP-based measure, is included in our press release. Today you will hear a brief update from Bob Callahan, our Chairman and CEO, and me. Afterwards, we'll take questions. So with that, I will turn it over to you, Bob.

BOB CALLAHAN, CHAIRMAN & CEO, ZIFF DAVIS HOLDINGS INC: Thanks, Mark, and good afternoon. In the fourth quarter 2006 we reported EBITDA of $14.3 million compared to $8.4 million a year ago. This 70% increase primarily reflects the continued strong growth in our online business, as well as across the board cost efficiencies. We reported total revenues of $56.7 million. Excluding the effect of closed publications, revenue increased 6% or $2.8 million versus year ago. On a fully consolidated basis our reported revenue was down 2%. We continued to increase our EBITDA despite the videogame sector and tech print softness. This EBITDA growth is occurring primarily due to the strong online revenue growth and its associated higher margins.

Our strategy of building out our digital and events businesses is paying off. We've continued to expand our online and event offerings by introducing several new websites and digital platforms, developing content partnerships with leading companies, as well as implementing across the board cost controls, especially in our print businesses. The Company's digital revenues increased by 24%, while print revenues, excluding those from closed publications, decreased by 8% compared to a year ago. Consolidated print revenue declined by 18% during the same period. Our average monthly page views and unique visitors across all of our sites increased 13% and 36% respectively to 158 million average page views and 23 million total unique visitors.

For the fourth quarter the tech print publishing market was down 10% versus prior year. Ziff Davis' pages were down 8%, CMP was down 13% and IDG was down 16%. Therefore, Ziff Davis Media's market share increased slightly in the quarter to 15.6% versus 15.4%. CMP's share dropped to 29.1% from 30.3% a year ago. IDG's market share was 22.7%, down from 24.5% last year, or in 2005. And in general, business tech press was up 3% versus the prior year.

Now, let me turn to the highlights from our three operating segments. First, the Consumer Small Business Group. Revenues for the Consumer Small Business Group were $22 million, up $2 million or 10% excluding the closed publications. Including the discontinued publication, revenue was up $300,000 or 1% compared to the same period last year. The increase was due primarily to the strong growth in the group's online revenues of 23% and The DigitalLife convention revenues that were up 62%. The improvement was partly offset by an 8% decline in PC Magazine's revenues due in part by the market factors previously mentioned. In the fourth quarter, PC Magazine's ad pages decreased 13%. PC Magazine maintained its number one market share position with a 57.7 market share against its most direct competition. As noted, online revenue for the group grew 23% versus a year ago. This was driven by a 27% increase in average yields per page view. Average monthly unique visitors expanded to 6.7 million, a 16% increase versus the prior year.

DigitalLife, our award winning consumer electronics and entertainment convention held in the Javits Center here in New York, completed its biggest and best show ever. DigitalLife …