Of the broadcast media companies offering rich dividends, Saga Communications has consistently delivered, with the company’s stock going ex-Dividend on March 21 and a $0.16 per share award scheduled for an April 8 delivery.
In Q4 2021, the numbers were good, showing across-the-board improvement from 2020. That said, Saga still has a way to go to return to 2019 — or 2018 — dollar totals.
The radio industry pure-play, whose ownership is largely comprised of institutional investors, saw its net operating revenue improve to $29.15 million from $28.75 million.
Operating income grew to $4.93 million from $5 million, as Net Income increased to $3.69 million ($0.60 per share), from $2.27 million ($0.38).
Free Cash Flow climbed to $3.9 million, from $5.13 million.
On a full-year basis, Saga enjoyed net income in FY 2021 of $11.16 million, compared to a FY2020 net loss of $1.91 million. The non-GAAP measure of Station Operating Income (SOI) increased to $30.55 million, from $20.43 million in FY ’20.
For the owner-operator of 79 FM radio stations and 34 AM radio stations across 27 markets including Milwaukee and Columbus, Ohio, the last three months of 2021 were good, likely pleasing lead investor Daniel Tisch and his Towerview LLC, which holds 23.3% equity in Saga.
But, most of the totals still lag Q4 and full-year 2019 revenue, which in turn fell from Q4 and full-year 2018.
In Q4 2019, net revenue moved to $31.79 million from $32.94 million and FY ’19 revenue of $123.07 million dipped from $124.83 million.
Net income of $3.84 million ($0.64 per share) in Q4 2019 declined from $4.3 million ($0.72 million) in Q4 2018.
Saga’s trading is extremely light on Wall Street; as of 9:30am Eastern just 74 shares were traded on average volume of 8,530 shares. SGA was priced at $22.80, on the lower end of a five-year trend for the issue.
