Miami-headquartered Spanish Broadcasting System late Thursday submitted its second quarter financial results to the Securities & Exchange Commission. In doing so, the owner of broadcast radio stations, the La Música digital platform and the for-sale Mega TV broadcast television network saw net revenue gains while shrinking its net loss from one year ago.
For the three-month period ending June 30, SBS saw its revenue from continuing operations climb to $38.5 million from $35.45 million. At the same time, total expenses from continuing operations dipped to $29.84 million from $30 million.
Add it up, and SBS’s saw income of $489,000 from its operations minus Mega TV, shifting from a 2024 net loss of $800,000 when looking solely at its continuing business enterprises.
How did Mega TV fare? Much better, as the loss associated with that arm of SBS declined to $835,000 from $7.75 million.
Combining all the numbers, SBS’s Q2 2024 net loss declined to $346,000 (-$0.04 per share) from $8.55 million (-$0.92).
Meanwhile, the company founded in 1983 by Raúl Alarcón Jr., Chairman/CEO of SBS, reported cash and cash equivalents at the end of Q2 of $11.7 million — up from $6.17 million at the end of 2023.
That said, the total liabilities and stockholders’ deficit increased to $392.94 million at the end of June 2024, from $391.54 million at the close of 2023.
Aiding the second quarter revenue increase for SBS was $3.69 million in Special Events revenue, compared to a mere $7,000 a year earlier. Local/National/Digital/Network revenue, shown as a single line-item, grew to $37.38 million from $37.12 million on a year-over-year basis in Q2.
Is there any update on the fate of Mega TV, which SBS agreed to sell to Voz Media for $64 million in February 2023, only to see a non-consummation of the transaction due to the inability of the buyer to fund the purchase? SBS says it continues to pursue the sale of the television stations and real estate assets associated with its TV industry venture. It expects a sale to transpire within 12 months.
Meanwhile, the delayed closing of SBS’s purchase from Urban One of Houston-market KROI-FM is anticipated to come between October 1 and December 31. SBS agreed in April 2023 to acquire the facility for $7.5 million.
