Beasley Q4 Net Revenue Up 89.1%

RADIO ONLINE | Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Beasley Broadcast Group has announced operating results for the three month period and year which ended December 31, 2016. Having acquired 17 radio stations from Greater Media on November 1, 2016, the actual results presented in the company report reflect the company's legacy Beasley Broadcast Group broadcasting and digital operations and two months of results from the Greater Media stations.

Net revenue increased 89.1% to $53.7 Million over the same period in 2015. Operating income, net income and net income per diluted share for the three month period and year ended December 31, 2016 reflect merger expenses of $5.2 million and $6.4 million, respectively and both periods include an approximate $45.5 million gain on acquisition of the Greater Media stations resulting from the difference in the fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed and the purchase price paid. Operating income, net income and net income per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2015 include a $3.5 million impairment loss.

The $25.3 million, or 89.1%, year-over-year increase in net revenue reflects the operation of stations in Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and New Jersey acquired from Greater Media as well as higher revenue from the company's legacy-owned Tampa-St. Petersburg, Charlotte and Las Vegas market clusters.

Commenting on the financial results, Caroline Beasley, Chief Executive Officer, said: "The fourth quarter was both productive and transitional as our revenue, SOI and net income growth reflects two months of operations of the Greater Media stations, solid industry fundamentals, including the benefit of political advertising, strength across our platform of legacy Beasley stations and high levels of operating discipline."

"On a stand-alone basis, Beasley legacy station revenue increased approximately 7.6%. Immediately following the close of the Greater Media transaction we began the integration process including the implementation of sales and cost initiatives, the elimination of redundant overhead and other strategies to derive synergies and value from the expanded scale and diversity of our portfolio. Partially reflecting, the change of ownership and related transitional concerns, on a stand-alone basis, the Greater Media stations' revenue decreased 6.1% or approximately $2.3 million in the fourth quarter with about 60% of the decline attributable to Philadelphia. Overall, we are making continued progress with the integration of the new stations as we implement best practices, processes, and talent from both companies to optimize audience engagement and drive results. We believe we are on track to complete the integration and realize the synergies expected from this transaction within 12 to 18 months."

"In the fourth quarter, including the Greater Media stations, we again outperformed our markets in terms of revenue growth based on markets that report to Miller Kaplan. Our clusters rose approximately 2.0% compared with the overall markets, which increased 0.5%. Our outperformance was driven by our recently acquired Detroit cluster, which generated an impressive year-over-year revenue increase of over 6.9%, compared with the Detroit market, which was down 3.2%. Beyond Detroit, our outperformance was broad-based and included our clusters in Augusta, Boston, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Las Vegas, Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville and Tampa-St. Petersburg."

"Our strategic priorities in 2017 are focused on three key areas. First, we plan to continue to deliver strong core programming and targeted localism across our station platform as these strategies support ratings and market leadership. Second, we remain focused on improving SOI margins across our station platform through efficiencies without impacting the listener experience. Third, our capital structure allows us to allocate free cash flow from operations to reducing leverage while returning capital to shareholders through dividends which, together, we believe supports our goal of enhancing shareholder value."