Donnelley 5.3% Sales Growth In Line With Expectations

CHICAGO—RR Donnelley reported financial results for the first quarter of 2014. Tom Quinlan, Donnelley president and CEO, said that performance was consistent with the company's expectations.

"While the difficult weather conditions and a lagging macroeconomic environment created challenges in the quarter, we were able to deliver nearly flat year-over-year organic revenue by leveraging the broad portfolio of product and service offerings that we have built to support our customers' communications requirements," he said.

"In addition, we further enhanced our breadth of offerings and geographic diversity with the acquisitions that closed in the quarter. While still early in the process, the integration of each is proceeding very well and we remain excited about the benefits associated with adding these companies to RR Donnelley."

Net sales in the quarter were $2.7 billion, up $135.3 million, or 5.3 percent, from the first quarter of 2013, largely due to the acquisition of Consolidated Graphics. After adjusting for the impact of acquisitions and dispositions, a 30 basis point negative impact from changes in foreign exchange rates and a 40 basis point negative impact from pass-through paper sales, organic sales declined 0.1 percent from the first quarter of 2013, as volume declines in the variable print and publishing and retail services segments and price erosion were nearly offset by volume growth in the strategic services and international segments.

The first-quarter 2014 net loss attributable to common shareholders was $29.0 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, compared to net earnings attributable to common shareholders of $27.1 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2013. The first-quarter net loss attributable to common shareholders included pre-tax charges, expenses and other adjustments of $148.1 million and $62.5 million in 2014 and 2013, respectively, all of which were excluded from the presentation of non-GAAP net earnings attributable to common shareholders.

First-quarter 2014 non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA was $276.5 million, or 10.3 percent of net sales, compared to non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA of $277.1 million, or 10.9 percent of net sales, in the first quarter of 2013. Price pressure and wage and other cost inflation more than offset higher volume, the benefit of two months of Consolidated Graphics and a favorable product mix.

Non-GAAP net earnings attributable to common shareholders totaled $59.7 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2014 compared to $68.1 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2013. First-quarter non-GAAP net earnings attributable to common shareholders exclude pre-tax charges, expenses and other adjustments of $148.1 million and $62.5 million in 2014 and 2013, respectively.