Indianapolis – EMMIS Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: EMMS) today announced revenues and cash flow results for its fourth fiscal quarter and full fiscal year ending Feb. 28, 2001.
For its fourth fiscal quarter, EMMIS’ after-tax cash flow (ATCF) grew to $14.9 million from $14.5 million, a 2.2% increase over the same quarter of the prior year. ATCF per share in the fourth quarter increased to $.31 from $.30 in the same quarter of the prior year, a 3.3% increase. EMMIS’ broadcast cash flow (BCF) grew to $28.8 million from $25.6 million, a 12.3% increase over the same quarter in the previous year.
ATCF and BCF are important and widely used measurements of the operating performance of media properties, used by management and analysts to evaluate operating performance.
For the fourth quarter, EMMIS’ net revenue grew to $117.4 million from $80.1 million, a 46.5% increase over the same quarter of the prior year.
“As we move into the next fiscal year, I remain confident in our ability to deliver strong operating results across our business units, despite a slowing economy,” EMMIS Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan said. “We’ve already begun to see the added benefits of our new properties as evidenced by ratings, operating efficiencies and our relative market performance.”
For the full fiscal year, net revenue grew to $470.6 million from $325.3 million, a 44.7% increase over the same period in the prior year. Broadcast cash flow grew to $174.2 million from $125.4 million, a 38.9% increase over the previous year. On a same-station basis, net revenue in the full fiscal year increased 7% and cash flow was up 10%. On a same-station basis, radio revenue increased 9% over prior year and radio broadcast cash flow increased 16%. ATCF on a consolidated basis increased to $1.96 per share vs. $1.64 per share during the full fiscal year last year. In this news release, “same-station basis” reflects results from stations and magazines operated under consistent formats during the period in both 2001 and 2000.
The company also announced that EMMIS Escrow Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of EMMIS, closed on its offering of $202.6 million of gross proceeds of 12.5% Senior Discount Notes, due 2011. A portion of the net proceeds were used to fund the company’s acquisition on Wednesday of three radio stations in Phoenix, Arizona – the nation’s 15th largest radio market – from Hearst-Argyle Television Inc. (NYSE: HTV). The remainder will be used to pay-down a portion of the company’s credit facility within in the next 120 days.
During the 4th quarter EMMIS announced the sale of Indianapolis radio station WTLC-AM (1310) and the intellectual property of WTLC-FM (105.7) to Radio One Inc. (Nasdaq: ROIAK and ROIA). EMMIS then launched soft adult contemporary radio station WYXB, “B105.7” on the 105.7 frequency Feb. 15th.
Also during the 4th quarter, the company announced the elimination of 120 positions in its 15-station Television Division. Many of the positions impacted were at television properties EMMIS purchased in October 2000 from Lee Enterprises, and involve the natural integration and the strategic reallocation of resources from Lee management to EMMIS management.
Estimates, in millions: Q1 2002 Q2 2002 Q3 2002 Q4 2002 FY 2002
(except ATCF)
Radio 63.4 72.6 77.2 62.2 275.4
Television 55.5 55.0 59.1 52.7 222.3
Publishing 18.6 20.6 21.6 17.9 78.7
Interactive 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.7
Total Net Revenues 137.6 148.3 158.1 133.1 577.1
Broadcast Cash Flow
Radio 27.7 37.5 39.2 27.0 131.4
Television 18.1 21.1 24.0 18.0 81.2
Publishing 1.8 3.0 4.4 1.8 11.0
Interactive (0.3) (0.2) (0.3) (0.2) (1.0)
Tot. Broadcast Cash Flow 47.3 61.4 67.3 46.6 222.6
ATCF – per share 0.35 0.55 0.62 0.36 1.87