Morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Yellow Pages first quarter 2026 earnings release call. Today's conference call contains forward-looking information about Yellow Pages outlook, objectives, and strategy. These statements are based on assumptions and are subject to important risks and uncertainties. Yellow Pages actual results could differ materially from expectations it discussed. The details of Yellow Pages cautions regarding forward-looking information, including key assumptions and risks, can be found in Yellow Pages management discussions and analysis for the first quarter of 2026. This call is being recorded and webcast, and all disclosure documents are available on the company's website and on SEDAR. I'll now turn the meeting over to Ms. Sherilyn King, President and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, madam.
Thank you, Marvin. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our first quarter 2026 analyst call. We really appreciate your interest in joining our call today. I'm joined by Assunta Tortis, our Chief Financial Officer, today. I will begin with some overview comments, and then Assunta will provide more details on our financial results for the quarter, and we'll be happy to answer any questions at the end of this call. We're actually quite pleased with our results reported for first quarter of 2026. In the first quarter of 2026, we delivered good profitability and cash generation. Our adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was 19.3% of revenue. Despite the challenges in the global economy, our first quarter change in our revenue was broadly stable compared to the same measurement just one year ago.
Considering certain regular seasonal cash disbursements during the quarter, our cash balance stood at approximately CAD 58 million at the end of April. As announced on April 7th, 2026, our board approved a CAD 25 million discretionary cash buyback through a plan of arrangement, which is expected to conclude by the end of June 2026. In connection with this plan of arrangement, we also contributed additional CAD 2 million to the defined benefit pension plan during the month of April 2026. This voluntary contribution, combined with the earlier payment of CAD 2 million made in the first quarter, brings our total payments to the defined benefit pension plan to CAD 6 million since the annuity purchase in May 2025.
Lastly, our board declared a dividend of CAD 0.25 per common share to be paid on June 15th, 2026, to shareholders of record as of May 25th, 2026. I will pass this along to Assunta to provide additional details on our numbers.
Thanks, SK. Good morning, everyone. Let me take you through our financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026. Our total revenues decreased by CAD 4 million or 7.8% year-over-year and amounted to CAD 46.8 million for the first quarter. The year-over-year decrease in revenues is mainly due to the decline of our higher margin digital media and print products and to a lesser extent, our lower margin digital services product, thereby creating pressure on our gross margin. The total revenue decline of 7.8% for the three-month period ended March 31st compares to 7.6% reported for the same period last year. The slightly higher decline rate is driven by the decline in print revenue, while the decline rate for digital has slightly improved.
Digital revenues decreased 6.1% year-over-year and amounted to CAD 38.2 million during this first quarter of 2026, an improvement from the decrease of 6.8% reported for the same period of 2025. The improvement of the decline rate of digital revenue is mainly due to a strong renewal rate and an increase in average spend per customer. Print revenues decreased 14.8% driven year-over-year and amounted to CAD 8.6 million for the three-month period ended March 31. The decline in print revenue is mainly due to the decrease in the number of print customers while the spend per customer has improved, driven by price increases.
Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was impacted by revenue pressures and the ongoing investments in our telesales force capacity and the impact of the company's share price on cash-settled stock compensation, partially offset by optimizations in cost of sales and reductions in the operating costs, including reduction in our workforce and associated employee expenses. As a result, adjusted EBITDA decreased year-over-year by CAD 2.9 million or 24% to CAD 9 million for the first quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin decreased to 19.3% compared to 23.4% for the previous year. The revaluation of cash-settled stock compensation based on the change in YP's share price resulted in an expense of CAD 1.7 million for the quarter compared to a recovery of CAD 1.3 million for the same period in 2025.
Revenue pressures and changes in product mix, partially offset by continued optimization and cost reductions will continue to cause some pressure on margins in upcoming quarters. Adjusted EBITDA less CapEx for the quarter decreased by CAD 2.9 million year-over-year to CAD 8.5 million, mainly driven by lower adjusted EBITDA. Net income decreased to CAD 4.1 million for the first quarter of 2026 compared to CAD 5 million for the same period last year, principally due to lower adjusted EBITDA, partially offset by the decrease in restructuring and other charges and depreciation and amortization. As at March 31, 2026, our total workforce decreased to 520 employees compared to 572 at the same date last year, a decrease of 9.1%.
As Sherilyn mentioned, our cash on hand stood at CAD 58 million at the end of April. The board has once again declared a cash dividend of CAD 0.25 per common share payable on June 15th to shareholders of record as at May 25th, 2026. Finally, as SK also mentioned, the board approved the distribution to shareholders of approximately CAD 25 million by way of a share repurchase through a plan of arrangement. Pursuant to this arrangement, the company will repurchase from shareholders on pro rata an aggregate of 2,037,489 common shares at a purchase price of CAD 12.27 per share, which represents the volume weighted average price for the five consecutive trading days ending the trading day immediately prior to April 7th, 2026.
The arrangement is subject to the approval of at least 66 and two-thirds of the votes cast by the holders of shares at the annual general and special meeting of shareholders, which is expected to be held virtually on June 11, 2026. Shareholders holding in excess of 80% of the outstanding shares have agreed with the company to vote in favor of the agreement. The arrangement is also subject to the receipt of the approval of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and is expected to be completed by the end of June 2026.
In connection with this arrangement, the company has also voluntarily contributed CAD 2 million to the defined benefit pension plan during April of 2026, bringing the cash payments to the defined pension plan following the purchase of group annuity contracts in May of 2025 to CAD 6 million. This concludes our formal remarks. Thank you for taking the time to join us this morning. We will now take your questions.
Marvin, do we have any questions?
No, it doesn't look like we have any questions. I'll now, like, turn it back to Sherilyn King for closing remarks.
Great. Thank you everyone for joining our call today. We appreciate that you took time to have join us. We do look forward to connecting with you in August for our quarter two results. Thank you everyone. Have a great day.
Thank you for participation in today's conference. This has concluded the program. You may now disconnect.