The owner of broadcast radio stations in markets ranging from Las Vegas and Detroit to Philadelphia; Boston; and Augusta, Ga.; experienced a nearly 6% dip in its net revenue during the first quarter of 2024 — a decline that perhaps fueled a 7% reduction-in-force initiative that became known on Tuesday.
With “industry-wide” ad softness the main culprit, Beasley Media Group‘s Q1 2024 performance came in “slightly below” its previously announced pacings, CEO Caroline Beasley shared on the company’s quarterly earnings call.
With CFO Marie Tedesco offering deeper insights behind the results, Beasley saw its Q1 ’24 net revenue was down by 5.9%, moving to $54.38 million from $57.78 million. This fell short of the $55.1 million expected by 1 analyst polled by Yahoo! Finance.
Those figures include year-ago revenue associated with divested radio station WJBR-FM 99.5 in Wilmington, Del., as well as the now-defuncted Houston Outlaws e-Sports team and a March 2023 home show that fell within a time frame that differs from this year.
On a same-station basis, January was up 3.4%. Then, malaise set in, with February down 0.4% while March was down 6.1%. This led to same-station revenue to decrease by 3.1% for the quarter.
But, the topline numbers offer insight into the layoffs being seen at Beasley, to which a company spokesperson said, “We are realigning our core business operations to reflect the current economic conditions in order to best serve the needs of our valued audiences, advertisers and shareholders into the future.” Many on-air producers were let go, as was veteran Program Director Tom Calococci.
On the call, Caroline Beasley said the company’s focus is on increasing digital revenue growth. Such efforts could reverse trends that could point to bigger financial concerns for Beasley Media Group, which has a stock value of $0.7140 as of Wednesday’s closing price. Digital net revenue grew to $10.95 million in Q1 ’24, from $9.98 million, and accounts for 1/5 of Beasley’s total revenue.
The maturity of the company’s bonds “remain a top priority” for Beasley, she noted in response to an emailed question addressed during a Q&A session to conclude the company’s short earnings call for analysts, investors and debtholders.
The Q2 2024 forecast will likely continue such coffee talk, with pacing for May and June down after an up April despite revenue from new customers growing by 53% in Q1.
Overall, adjusted EBITDA sank to $731,520, from $2.64 million one year earlier.
Earnings per share of -$0.14 predicted by the 1 analyst polled by Yahoo! Finance were exceeded, however, as the company swung to net income of $7,970 ($0.00) from a $3.54 million net loss in Q1 2024.
Indeed, Beasley’s net income was under $8,000 in Q1.
A closer look at the P&L sheet indicates, however, that Beasley swung to an operating loss of $1.10 million, from Q1 2023 operating income of $413,045. That’s because Beasley benefited from a $6.03 million gain from the sale of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) in the quarter, as has been seen with other radio and TV broadcasting companies in their respective Q1 2024 earnings reports.
Beasley had not yet submitted its 10-Q filing for Q1 2024 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as of 9am Pacific on May 8.
