Audacy Q4 Net Revenues Down 0.8% to $342 Million
| RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, March 15, 2023 | 11:25am CT |
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 Audacy |
Audacy reported fourth quarter net revenues declined 0.8% to $342 million from $344.7 million in 2021. Excluding political revenue, revenues were down 4%. Digital revenues grew 2% to $69.1 million. Operating income fell to $46.4 million from $52.7 million, while Adjusted EBITDA decreased to $37.1 million from $66.2 million. The company posted a net income of $12.1 million (9 cents per diluted share) as compared to $21.4 million (16 cents) in the year-ago period.
Chairman, President and CEO David J. Field stated, "Having started 2022 on a great note with revenues up 14% in the first quarter, we ended the year with revenues down 0.8% in the fourth quarter as challenging ad market conditions persisted. For the full year, revenues were up 3%. Fourth quarter expenses grew 9% due to accelerated recognition of podcast expenses, but we anticipate that expenses will be up low single digits in the first quarter and fall below 2022 levels beginning in the second quarter.
We continue to vigorously execute our plan to navigate the storm and to position the company for recovery when business conditions improve. Our liquidity improved from $115 million at the end of September to $145 million at year end. With the sale earlier this month of $17 million of towers, we have now completed $73 million in non-strategic asset sales to bolster our liquidity and to support our continued compliance with our financial covenants.
We are making solid progress on our key growth drivers including our reinvented streaming audio platform, our national enterprise business development, our podcasting and digital marketing solutions businesses, and our promising ad tech and ad product roadmap.
Looking beyond the challenging current macro environment, Audacy has a strong and differentiated, scaled, competitive position in the dynamic and growing audio space and is deeply focused on continuing the work to capitalize on the opportunities and drive a healthy recovery."
