CORPORATE INFORMATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Wesley R. Edens Chairman of the Board Theodore P. Janulis (1) Board Member Kevin Sheehan (1) Board Member Laurence Tarica (1) Board Member Michael E. Reed Board Member (1) Member of Audit Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Compensation Committee CORPORATE OFFICERS Michael E. Reed Chief Executive Officer & President Gregory W. Freiberg Chief Financial Officer & Chief Accounting Officer Kirk Davis Chief Operating Officer Cameron MacDougall Secretary CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS New Media Investment Group Inc. 1345 Avenue of the Americas, 46th Floor New York, NY 10105 www.newmediainv.com INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM Ernst & Young LLP Five Times Square New York, NY 10036-6530 SHAREHOLDER SERVICES, TRANSFER AGENT AND REGISTRAR American Stock Transfer & Trust Company 6201 15th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11219 (800) 937-5449 STOCK EXCHANGE LISTING New Media Investment Group Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE:NEWM) INVESTOR INFORMATION SERVICES New Media Investment Group Inc. 1345 Avenue of the Americas, 46th Floor New York, NY 10105 Tel: (212) 479-3160 Email: [email protected] DEAR FELLOW SHAREHOLDERS: 2014 has been an incredibly successful and transformative year for New Media Investment Group Inc. (“New Media” or the “Company”, NYSE:NEWM). The Company completed its spin-off from Newcastle Investment Corp. (NYSE:NCT) on February 14, 2014, and to date, New Media has deployed approximately $540 million of capital through eight acquisitions, distributed $0.84 per common share in dividends and is positioned for continued success for many years to come. The foundation of New Media is its strong, local media brands which are, in most cases, the dominant providers of unique, local content. The Company owns, operates and acquires local media properties that provide comprehensive, high quality, local news in the small to mid-size communities they serve. Including the two acquisitions that closed in Q1 2015, New Media publishes more than 560 community publications and operates in over 475 markets across 32 states. New Media is by far the largest owner of daily newspapers in the United States with 125 daily newspapers, the majority of which have been published for more than 100 years. REVENUE MIX EVOLUTION Traditional Print Advertising decreased 2.7% on During 2014, the Company continued with its a same store basis which is a solid performance focus on evolving its revenue mix to rely more given the continued secular pressures this heavily on what we see as stable and growing segment faces. The majority of the declines revenue categories such as Digital, Commercial were driven by Local Print Advertising; however, Printing and Other, Circulation and Preprints. Classified Print Advertising is beginning to show The investments we are making in our print early signs of stabilization. Within Classified and digital initiatives are beginning to stabilize Print Advertising, we are seeing revenue trend the topline and I am pleased to report that in improvement in obituaries revenue and legals 2014, approximately 62% of New Media’s advertising. total revenues were derived from these stable or growing categories, an increase from 45% Our declines in Print Advertising were in 2008. Looking ahead, we intend to continue offset by strong growth in both our Digital to invest in our digital initiatives, such as and Commercial Printing & Other revenue Propel Marketing and BestRide, and our print categories, which increased 8.3% and 7.8% on initiatives, such as our Center for News and a same store basis, respectively. Circulation Design and Sunday Select, which we believe will revenue also increased 0.9% in 2014 and remains further accelerate our topline transformation. a stable category for New Media. * Same store results, a non-GAAP financial measure, take into account 2014 REVENUE TRENDS material acquisitions and divestitures of the Company by adjusting Total revenues in 2014 were $652.3 million, prior year performance to include or exclude financial results as if an increase of 26.3% when compared to the the Company had owned or divested a business for the comparable prior year, and were relatively flat on a same period. The acquisition of each of Victorville, American Consolidated Media Southwest, Petersburg Progress-Index and Foster’s Daily store basis*, increasing 0.1% vs. the prior year. Democrat is not considered material. We are particularly excited about Propel Marketing, first became a separately traded public company, one of our wholly owned divisions, which provides we announced a goal of acquiring $1.0 billion digital marketing services to small and medium size of newspaper assets by the end of 2016. Since businesses (“SMBs”). Propel helps SMBs navigate inception, the Company has closed eight transactions the complex digital sector in four different phases of to date for a total purchase price of approximately growing and interacting online, including: building $540 million. All of these acquisitions have been a presence online, getting found online, growing dominant sources of local news in their respective a customer base, and engaging with both potential communities where we saw an opportunity for and current customers. In 2014, Propel generated digital revenue growth, and cost reductions from approximately $18.5 million in revenue, an increase leveraging our infrastructure and scale. of 189% vs. the prior year. We continue to believe our strong, trusted local brands and in-market sales We believe New Media is well positioned to force positions Propel to be a leading provider of these continue to consolidate the fragmented newspaper complex products for local businesses. sector and will be able to continue to complete accretive and strategic acquisitions given our size, In 2014, our Commercial Printing & Other scale and unique centralized services platform. and Circulation revenue categories represented Importantly, we believe our centralized services approximately 39% of total revenues. The revenue platform improves the quality of the local content, growth in Commercial Printing & Other highlights lowers the operating cost structure of individual the benefit of commercial print wins throughout papers, and expands the opportunity for growth, the year. Going forward, we remain focused on the especially with Digital revenue. opportunity to become an outsourced print facility for other papers as they decide to subcontract their 2015 AND BEYOND print function. Circulation revenue, our single largest Looking ahead to 2015, we remain excited about revenue category, continues to be stable driven by our our ability to execute on both our organic growth data driven price increases and consumers’ willingness and acquisition strategy. We intend to continue to pay for unique and valuable, local content. to leverage our in-market sales force, and our position as a leading provider of local content in CASH FLOWS the communities we serve, to grow total revenues. The Company’s operating cash flow remains strong We also believe our centralized services continue and our current liquidity position is healthy as we to put us in an advantageous position to execute on ended the year with over $140 million of liquidity accretive acquisitions. With our strong cash flow, a between cash on the balance sheet and undrawn healthy dividend and the right capital structure, we revolver. We remain committed to maintaining gross are very excited about the opportunities to continue leverage at approximately 2.0x As Adjusted EBITDA, to create substantial value for our shareholders. and at year-end, our net leverage was a modest 1.1x As Adjusted EBITDA. Sincerely, ACQUISITION OVERVIEW In addition to the organic growth of our revenues and Michael E. Reed cash flows through our digital and print initiatives, New Media has generated compelling growth from Chief Executive Officer and President our acquisition strategy. Shortly before New Media March 31, 2015 The Record Herald FORM 10-K UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 10-K (Mark One) È ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the Fiscal Year Ended December 28, 2014 OR ‘ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from to Commission file number: 001-36097 New Media Investment Group Inc. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Delaware 38-3910250 (State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer incorporation or organization) Identification No.) 1345 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10105 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code) Telephone: (212) 479-3160 (Registrant’s telephone number, including area code) Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of each class: Name of each exchange on which registered: Common stock, par value $0.01 per share New York Stock Exchange Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes È No ‘ Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ‘ No È Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes È No ‘ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).