Cumulus Preliminary Financials Show Positives

Q4 Preliminary Financials

CUMULUS MEDIA has released selected preliminary unaudited operating results for the three months and twelve months ended DECEMBER 31, 2018.

For the three months ended DECEMBER 31, 2018, the Company expects to report net revenue in a range of $307.0 million to $309.0 million, net income in a range of $42.0 million to $44.0 million, and Adjusted EBITDA in a range of $64.0 million to $66.0 million. Adjusted EBITDA performance for the three months ended DECEMBER 31, 2018 is expected to show growth at the midpoint of the range of approximately 30.4% from the three months ended DECEMBER 31, 2017. For the twelve months ended DECEMBER 31, 2018, the Company expects to report net revenue in a range of $1,139.0 million to $1,141.0 million, net income in a range of $755.7 million to $757.7 million, and Adjusted EBITDA in a range of $232.7 million to $234.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA performance for the twelve months ended DECEMBER 31, 2018 is expected to show growth at the midpoint of the range of approximately 7.3% from the twelve months ended December 31, 2017. For the first quarter of 2019, the Company is currently pacing approximately flat, with continued strength in national and digital offset by local and political.

Pres./CEO MARY BERNER said, “Throughout 2018, despite the significant distraction of bankruptcy, we remained focused on the execution of our strategic priorities - maximizing operating performance, growing our digital businesses, and optimizing our asset portfolio. Collectively, we believe these will help us meet our key financial goals of generating as much as $100 million of free cash flow per year, reducing our net leverage to below 4.0X as quickly as possible and reinvesting in opportunities with meaningful growth potential.”

BERNER continued, “Our fourth quarter and full year 2018 results reflect solid execution against these priorities and great progress toward achieving our financial goals. The Company delivered the first full year of revenue growth in four years and the second consecutive year of EBITDA growth, following a five-year decline. Our digital revenue grew over 60% in the year, accelerating each quarter, which supported a string of eight straight quarters of revenue market share gains. As a result of our EBITDA growth and a $50 million voluntary debt prepayment in OCTOBER, we expect our net leverage at year end will be reduced to approximately 5.2x. And, importantly, we took meaningful steps toward optimizing our portfolio with two recently announced transactions, which will further reduce net leverage. I am exceedingly proud of the entire CUMULUS team for delivering on the promises we have made to our stakeholders to date and look forward to more progress in the months and years ahead.”

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