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Beasley Q2 Net Revenue Increases 6.5% to $65.7 Million


Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. has announced operating results for the three-month and six-month periods ended June 30. The results reflect actual results including the operations of WXTU-FM in the three and six months ended June 30.

Summary of Second Quarter Results

1 Operating income, net income and net income per diluted share were impacted by a $4.4 million charge due to the change in fair value of contingent consideration in the six months ended June 30, 2018 and a $3.5 million gain on dispositions in the six months ended June 30.

The $4.0 million, or 6.5%, year-over-year increase in net revenue during the three months ended June 30, 2019, reflects increased revenue in the Company's Philadelphia market cluster, primarily due to the September 2018 acquisition of WXTU-FM, and increased revenue in the Company's Boston market cluster. Net revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2019 was comparable to net revenue for the same period in 2018 at the Company's other market clusters.

Beasley reported operating income of $10.7 million in the second quarter of 2019. Second quarter 2019 interest expense increased by approximately $0.7 million to $4.5 million reflecting additional borrowings related to the WXTU-FM acquisition and a higher overall cost of borrowings. As a result of these factors, Beasley reported net income of $4.3 million or $0.15 per diluted share in the three months ended June 30, 2019, compared to net income of $4.9 million or $0.18 per diluted share in the three months ended June 30, 2018.

Station Operating Income (SOI, a non-GAAP financial measure) rose $1.2 million or 7.5% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2019 to $17.9 million. The year-over-year increase reflects the net revenue growth during the period which more than offset a 6.2% year-over-year rise in station operating expenses related to the Company's expanded platform.

Commenting on the financial results, Caroline Beasley, Chief Executive Officer, said, "The strategic and financial benefits of our initiatives to further expand and diversify Beasley's broadcast and digital platform are evident in our second quarter financial results and further highlights the progress we are making to reinforce and grow Beasley's leadership position across all audio platforms in our markets. Record second quarter net revenue of $65.7 million was driven by the strength of our station clusters in three of our top five largest revenue markets as well as contributions from recent acquisitions and more than offset approximately $1.0 million in combined political and United States Traffic Network (USTN) revenue recorded in the comparable 2018 period, which was non-recurring in 2019. Reflecting the strong operating leverage in Beasley's business model, second quarter revenue growth of 6.5% drove a 7.5% year-over-year increase in SOI and overall margin improvement.

"Beasley's reported second quarter free cash flow declined to $5.5 million from $8.4 million in the comparable 2018 period due to higher capital expenses related to the ongoing build-out of our Philadelphia studios and increases in taxes, corporate overhead and interest expense offsetting the $1.2 million increase in SOI. Importantly, year-to-date operating results and third quarter trends continue to pace consistently with our internal forecasts.

"During the second quarter, we continued to make significant progress toward transforming Beasley into a fully diversified, local multi-media company through select investments in our existing platform and opportunistic accretive transactions. In June, we entered into a definitive agreement to acquire WDMK-FM and three translators used to broadcast WDMK's HD2 signal in Detroit, Michigan from Urban One for $13.5 million. This transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Beasley's free cash flow, excluding one-time transaction costs. The acquisition of WDMK-FM and the WDMK-HD2 translators represent a strategically and financially compelling growth opportunity for our shareholders and further enhances our revenue and competitive position in Detroit with a strong cluster of four FM stations in the country's thirteenth largest market.

"We also continued to advance our initiatives focused on leveraging our premium local programming and brands, while aggressively rolling out our digital offerings and distribution capabilities to create new value for listeners and advertisers. In the second quarter, the early success of our digital sales, digital content development and podcasting strategies resulted in digital revenue growth and higher levels of audience engagement.

"In addition to our growth and diversification initiatives, we remain committed to enhancing shareholder value through capital returns and leverage reduction. In the second quarter, we used cash from operations to pay our twenty-third consecutive quarterly cash dividend and made voluntary debt repayments of $4.0 million, with total outstanding debt of $245.5 million as of June 30.

"Looking ahead to the second half of 2019, we remain committed to our strategic priorities of improving top- and bottom-line performance, reducing debt and leverage, and returning capital to shareholders through our quarterly cash dividend. With enhanced opportunities to monetize our strong core programming and local brands, we remain confident in the radio industry and in Beasley's growth prospects going forward. We look forward to realizing the strategic benefits of the WDMK-FM and WDMK-HD2 translators transaction later this year and continue to believe that our ongoing initiatives to diversify and drive revenue, productivity and efficiency across our platform, combined with prudent management of our capital structure, are proven initiatives for sustained long-term financial growth and enhanced shareholder value." Conference Call and Webcast Information

The Company will host a conference call and webcast today, August 5, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. ET to discuss its financial results and operations. To access the conference call, interested parties may dial 334/777-6978, conference ID 7350889 (domestic and international callers). Participants can also listen to a live webcast of the call at the Company's website at www.bbgi.com. Please allow 15 minutes to register and download and install any necessary software. Following its completion, a replay of the webcast can be accessed for five days on the Company's website, www.bbgi.com.

Questions from analysts, institutional investors and debt holders may be e-mailed to ir@bbgi.com at any time up until 9:00 a.m. ET on Monday, August 5. Management will answer as many questions as possible during the conference call and webcast (provided the questions are not addressed in their prepared remarks).

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