The big swap between Beasley and CBS, which closed late last year, had an immediate impact on Beasley’s income, while associated expenses had an impact on the company’s margins. The result was an up-down quarter, depending on how you look at it.
The key to the swap for Beasley was entry into the Charlotte and Tampa markets.
Beasley enjoyed a nice gain in Q4 net revenue on an actual basis, rising 14.6% to $28.9M. Station operating income was only $1.8M, compared to $2.8M in Q4 2013, but the company incurred $1.7M in transaction-related expense. Exclude that and SOI would have compared favorably to the prior result.
Pro forma, the results weren’t as good. Net revenue was down 4.3% and SOI was down 8%.
George G. Beasley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “Importantly, while the fourth quarter pro forma presentation allows for a comparison of the same stations during both periods, it does not reflect our recently initiated and planned format and personnel changes in Tampa as well as expense reductions in Tampa and Charlotte, the benefits of which we expect will be reflected in our results as we move through 2015 and into 2016.”
“With respect to the new markets we now operate in, Tampa-St. Petersburg is the nation’s 18th largest radio market when ranked by revenue while Charlotte is the nation’s 24th largest radio revenue market. The six station cluster we now operate in Tampa-St. Petersburg is already competitive on a revenue share basis, and we have initiated several strategies to capitalize on the significant upside in this cluster. We’ve already changed the format of one station from sports talk to rock and anchored the station with the market’s leading morning show personality. We’ve made other changes in Tampa including transferring two proven Beasley managers to lead our operations in the market and appointing a new Director of Sales for the cluster who brings long-term radio and digital experience to his role in Tampa.
“The seven station cluster we acquired in Charlotte is a market revenue share leader, so our strategies in this market to drive SOI growth are focused on extending successes and driving efficiencies in operations and processes. Overall, our post-closing integration, cost-efficiency and operating plans in both markets, combined with our legacy focus on targeted localism and delivering quality programming, effective online marketing solutions and dedicated service to the listeners and advertisers in these markets are proceeding on schedule.
“In addition to our initiatives during the quarter to expand and diversify our station and digital media operations, we continue to focus on debt reduction and returning capital to shareholders. During the fourth quarter we made credit facility repayments totaling $1.3 million, reducing borrowings to $97.7 million at December 31, 2014 and declared our fifth consecutive quarterly cash dividend.”
