Beasley Revenue Dips, Loss Narrows In Second Quarter 2023

Q2 Revenue Decrease

BEASLEY BROADCAST GROUP saw net revenue for second quarter 2023 fall 2.1% year-over-year to $63.5 million, blamed on a drop in agency revenue. Operating loss was flat at $4.5 million, and net loss narrowed from $14.5 million to $10.4 million (35 cents/diluted share), with 2023's numbers including $10 million of non-cash impairment losses and 2022's including $8.6 million of non-cash impairment losses.

CEO CAROLINE BEASLEY said, "Despite ongoing challenges related to the economy and softness in the national spot market, BEASLEY’s successful digital transformation, continued local audio leadership and revenue diversification initiatives, combined with our proactive initiatives to reduce expenses, resulted in net loss declining by more than $4.0 million in both the quarter and year-to-date periods, compared to the same periods in 2022, as well as quarterly adjusted EBITDA growth of 16.8% and 2023 year-to-date Adjusted EBITDA growth of 28.1%.

“During the quarter, we made additional progress with reducing leverage and strengthening our balance sheet as we repurchased another $3 million of our debt at a discount and lowered quarterly interest expense which support our goal to drive cash flow growth. We are generating cash from operations, and we expect to continue to generate positive cash flow for the full year.

“Our digital strategy delivered second quarter digital revenue growth of 14.8% year-over-year, and accounted for 19.4% of total second quarter revenue. Our digital revenue is primarily derived from our owned and operated assets, with our proprietary content creation driving the largest increase with the best margins and third-party products that come with a higher cost. Our talented sales teams have been able to combine our over-the-air and digital platform offerings to create marketing campaigns and brand solutions that provide great results for our clients. Our continued strong digital revenue growth has moved us to within a few basis points of reaching the bottom end of our goal of digital revenue accounting for 20% to 30% of total revenue and we remain laser focused on this initiative as a means to diversify and complement revenue in a cash flow positive manner.

“Total outstanding debt as of June 30, 2023 was $287.0 million, and second quarter interest expense declined slightly to $6.7 million. BEASLEY had $35.5 million of cash and cash equivalents on hand at quarter end. Our current cash balance provides us the flexibility to continue to opportunistically reduce our debt, leverage, and interest expense. We are hyper focused on this, as it both increases cash flow and de-risks our equity.

“In summary, the experience of our team and strong competitive positions in our markets combined with the meaningful actions we have taken to reduce costs and improve operating efficiencies were again evident in the strength of our second quarter results. Looking ahead, we are closely monitoring local and national economies and believe that our current operating structure will result in positive cash flow for the balance of the year and for the full year 2023.”

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