Jun 25, 2019: Yellow Pages Stock Is Up 35% This Year

Yellow Pages Group is a Canadian directory publisher. YPG published its first directory in 1908. The yellow pages stock (TSX:Y) has been declining for several years. Now the stock is up more than a third. This probably indicates a turn around. The company may seem like old books, but they have been trying to turn around and evolve the business model for the digital age. Over the past 5 years, the company decreased some of its core assets, unlocking millions in cash and getting digital marketing talent to work on offering services to niche audiences.

From the company website, you can see that Yellow Pages services now include digital marketing, content syndication, social media management, and website fulfillment for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Canada. The Yellow Pages became something like a digital marketing agency. This is a move to grow the company by adopting new technology.

The company has done a lot to achieve its objectives. They cut back on spending and debt. Operational expenses were cut by 35% over the past year. Principal repayments of $144.7 million were completed on Senior Secured Notes. Debt was cut by half.

So far this year, the stock is up by 34%. Investors who bought at the start of 2019 are probably pretty satisfied with their investment. Long-term investors have seen huge decreases. Yellow pages new business model is having intense competition from both technology giants and start-up digital marketing agencies.