Topic: How To Invest

TORSTAR $3.13 – Toronto symbol TS.B

TORSTAR $3.13 (Toronto symbol TS.B; Shares outstanding: 79.9 million; Market cap: $254.3 million; TSINetwork Rating: Average; Dividend yield: 8.2%; www.torstar.com) lost $164.8 million, or $2.04 a share, in the three months ended September 30, 2015. A year earlier, it lost $87.0 million, or $1.08 a share.

Excluding costs related to job cuts and other measures in response to falling ad revenue at Torstar’s newspapers, the company lost $10.4 million, or $0.13 a share, in the latest quarter. Torstar expects its restructuring to cut $9.3 million from its annual costs in 2015 and a further $14.3 million in 2016.

Overall revenue declined 7.3%, to $185.4 million from $199.9 million. Lower ad sales cut revenue at both the free weekly newspapers and flyer-distribution operations, as well as at the Toronto Star and other daily papers.

To conserve cash, Torstar plans to cut its annual dividend by 50.5% in 2016, to $0.26 a share from $0.525. The new rate yields 8.3%.

Torstar is still a buy for long-term gains.

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