Quad Sales and Earnings Drop for Second Consecutive Quarter

The rough times haven't passed yet for Sussex's Quad/Graphics, Inc. After reporting , the company again comes bearing bad news.

Quad reports its net sales for the first quarter of 2012 were $990 million versus $1,022 million for the same period in 2011. In addition, the company's earnings are reported at $126 million versus $142 million for the same period last year. 

However, according to Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics Chairman, President & CEO, the drop in net sales and earnings are "in line" with the company's expectations. 

“Our performance during the first quarter gave us a solid start to the year,” said Quadracci. “Our results are in line with our expectations and we are pleased with the progress we made on our key priorities to improve productivity, reduce costs, lower our debt and meet our synergy objectives, which enabled us to generate significant Recurring Free Cash Flow and improve upon our already strong credit metrics.”

The company says its strong Recurring Free Cash Flow, totaling $107 million in the first quarter, is a testament to its ability to generate a strong, consistent cash flow.

Quad says the overall loss was expected because of volume and pricing pressures, and it's offsetting the loss with things like productivity improvements, saving the company $25 million this quarter. Quad cited the same pressures and improvements .