If you’re a key executive in the C-Suite at Townsquare Media, you may have to be an early riser. Since the days of Steven Price as CEO, the media company focused on small and mid-sized markets has regularly held their quarterly earnings call at 8am Eastern.
On Tuesday, Townsquare again sat that time for its Q4 2018 and full-year earnings review for Wall Street — now with CEO Bill Wilson solely at the helm. As the adage goes, “The early bird gets the worm.” If worms were dollars, Townsquare has a bucket full of them.
“We are very proud of the results from Q4 but even more excited about how our 2019 has started and what is ahead for the Townsquare team,” Wilson told RBR+TVBR ahead of the pre-market call March 12.
Wilson has every reason to boast about Townsquare’s performance in Q4. It just takes more than a quick glance to see just how strong it was. While the company saw its net loss shrink to $16.3 million from $27.1 million, it is the company’s adjusted net income that should be looked at.
Factoring in a $32.36 million impairment of goodwill and intangible assets, a.k.a. “the company’s depressed stock price” in Q4, adjusted net income of $7.02 million (26 cents per diluted share) was seen, rising from $5.27 million (19 cents).
This met the expectations of analysts polled by Zacks Equity Research.
Net income was also impacted by an $11.7 million decline in income tax benefit, primarily related to the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act.
Further, adjusted EBITDA increased to $23.86 million, from $21.88 million. On a pro-forma basis, adjusted EBITDA advanced to $23.86 million from $22.44 million.
Again, Townsquare met or exceeded its EBITDA guidance, Wilson noted on the call.
Net revenue increased to $108.96 million from $97.3 million. Excluding political revenue, net revenue increased by $7.2 million, or 7.5%, to $103.3 million.
This beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.89%.
On the call, Wilson pointed to four goals Townsquare’s executive team set out to achieve throughout 2018: reorient the company to its local business, “reduce the complexity, volatility and seasonality” in our business, make digital growth happen, and foster product innovation.
“We achieved all of these objectives and as a result we are better positioned today than we have in the history of the company,” Wilson said.
It explains why Wilson told those on the call that Townsquare today can be best-described as “a premiere local media and digital local solutions company with a growing and thriving digital business.”
While “Advertising,” which includes Townsquare’s radio stations, saw Q4 net revenue jump to $93.1 million from $82.65 million (thanks to $5.67 million in political dollars), Townsquare Interactive saw a net revenue gain to $13.51 million from $10.51 million.
On a full-year basis, net revenue climbed to $430.6 million, from $411.4 million. On a pro forma basis, net revenue was $434.2 million, rising from $418.8 million. Adjusted net income was $29.77 million ($1.08 per diluted share), rising from $21.37 million (77 cents).
Once the results were finalized, Townsquare’s board opted to give shareholders a thank you by way of a quarterly cash dividend of $0.075 per share. The dividend will be payable on May 15 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on April 2.
What can investors expect in 2019? Adjusted EBITDA will between $92 million and $94 million, reflecting a slight decline due to the impact of a loss in political revenue, EVP/CFO Stu Rosenstein said. Revenue for FY2019 is forecast to fall between $445 million and $555 million.
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