LEE ENTERPRISES Inc

Stockholders and Board of Directors

Lee Enterprises, Incorporated

Davenport, Iowa

Opinion on the Consolidated Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (the “Company”) as of September 29, 2024 and September 24, 2023, the related consolidated statements of (loss) income and comprehensive (loss) income, (deficit) equity, and cash flows for each of the three fiscal years in the period ended September 29, 2024, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at September 29, 2024 and September 24, 2023, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three fiscal years in the period ended September 29, 2024, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of September 29, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”) and our report dated December 13, 2024 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

These consolidated financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s consolidated financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud.

Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) related to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of a critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Valuation of indefinite-lived mastheads

As described in Notes 1 and 4 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company’s non-amortized intangible assets in mastheads are $10.9 million as of September 29, 2024. The Company reviews the indefinite-lived mastheads for impairment on an annual basis or more frequently if events or changes in circumstances indicate the assets might be impaired. The impairment test consists of comparing the fair value of each masthead with its carrying amount. The Company determines fair value using the relief from royalty method, which utilizes a discounted cash flow model to determine the fair value of each masthead. The significant assumptions used in the determination of the fair value of indefinite-lived mastheads are the discount rate (weighted-average cost of capital) and royalty rates. During the year ended September 29, 2024, the Company recognized impairments of $7.8 million on these indefinite-lived mastheads.

We identified the determination of the fair values of the indefinite-lived mastheads as a critical audit matter because of the significant estimates and assumptions the Company makes to calculate their fair value, specifically the discount rate and royalty rates. Auditing the significant assumptions involved a high degree of subjective auditor judgment due to their significant estimation uncertainty, including the extent of specialized skills and knowledge needed.

The following are the primary procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter:

•Utilizing personnel with specialized skills and knowledge in valuation, who assisted in:

◦Evaluating the discount rate by developing an independent expectation range using independently obtained market data of guideline public companies and comparing to the rate used by the Company; and

◦Evaluating the royalty rates by (i) evaluating management’s profit-split analysis and (ii) comparing them to a range based on publicly available royalty rates.

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2021.

/s/ BDO USA, P.C.

Chicago, Illinois

December 13, 2024