TEGNA Revenues Rise In Second Quarter 2019

Q2

TEGNA second quarter 2019 total revenues rose 2% year-to-year to $537 million, attributed to increases in subscription revenues and advertising and marketing services. Excluding political, the revenue increase was 7%. Net income hit $80 million, and Adjusted EBITDA fell 1% to $169 million. GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.37.

The company does not break out results for its radio stations, News-Talk KFMB-A and Rock KFMB-F/SAN DIEGO; it is also in the process of acquiring Sports WBNS-F (97.1 THE FAN) and Sports WBNS-A (ESPN 1460)/COLUMBUS, OH.

“We are pleased with our second quarter results in terms of both performance during the quarter and from a long-term positioning perspective,” said Pres./CEO DAVE LOUGEE. “We met the outlook for our key financial metrics provided last quarter, and remain on pace to meet our full year 2019 guidance. With our CBS renewal announced during the quarter, we now have Big Four network agreements covering nearly 99 percent of our paid subscribers going out to 2021 and beyond. Additionally, we will be negotiating and repricing approximately 85 percent of our paid subscriber base during the fourth quarter of this year and the end of 2020. As a result, we have high visibility into the cash flow growth associated with our subscription revenues.

“We continue to augment our organic growth with disciplined capital allocation, highlighted this quarter by the announcement of our intent to acquire the DISPATCH BROADCAST GROUP stations, and the successful close of the JUSTICE NETWORK and QUEST transaction. The DISPATCH acquisition, combined with the announced acquisition of stations as a result of the NEXSTAR-TRIBUNE transaction, further diversifies our portfolio of Big Four stations in strategic and complementary markets, including states projected to be key drivers of political advertising spending in the 2020 elections. As we have executed on our stated M&A strategy, we have done so within the broader objectives of our rigorous capital allocation framework. Even with these recently announced and closed acquisitions, we remain on track to return to approximately 4.1x leverage by the end of 2020.

“As we look forward, we have good visibility into our second half drivers and are confident we will capitalize on opportunities to further drive growth for the intermediate and long-term."

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