Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. today announced operating results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2023. For further information, the Company has posted a presentation to its website regarding the first quarter highlights and accomplishments which management will review on today’s conference call.
Net revenue during the three months ended March 31, 2023 increased 3.7% to $57.8 million, primarily reflecting a year-over-year increase in digital revenue, local spot revenue and network revenue, partially offset by a decrease in national spot revenue, related to continued softness in the national agency business.
Beasley reported operating income of $0.4 million in the first quarter of 2023 compared to an operating loss of $2.7 million in the first quarter of 2022, largely reflecting the year-over-year increase in net revenue. Operating loss in the three months ended March 31, 2022 reflects a $1.9 million non-cash impairment loss related to the sale of WWNN-AM in Boca Raton on April 1, 2022.
Beasley reported a net loss of $3.5 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, in the three months ended March 31, 2023, compared to a net loss of $3.7 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, in the three months ended March 31, 2022. The year-over-year improvement was primarily due to higher revenue.
Station operating income (SOI, a non-GAAP financial measure) increased 21% to $7.1 million in the first quarter of 2023 compared to SOI of $5.9 million in the first quarter of 2022. The increase is primarily attributable to increased net revenue and lower operating expenses as a percentage of net revenue compared to the prior year period.
Commenting on the financial results, Caroline Beasley, Chief Executive Officer, said, “Beasley’s strong first quarter financial operating results highlight our continued local audio leadership and the ongoing success of our digital transformation and revenue diversification initiatives which are driving top-line and SOI growth. Despite ongoing challenges related to the economy and softness in the national spot market, Beasley generated healthy growth across its digital, local audio, and network revenue sources, as reflected by the 3.7% increase in first quarter net revenues to $57.8 million. Top-line growth was the primary factor contributing to an impressive 21% year-over-year increase in SOI to $7.1 million.
“Our digital strategy delivered first quarter digital revenue growth of 27.8% year-over-year, and accounted for 17.3% of total first quarter revenue. Similar to recent quarters, strong digital revenue performance was driven by Beasley’s organic content creation initiatives and the roll-out of our tailored web services. Beasley continues to see accelerating demand from consumers for our innovative digital content, with our unique digital users more than doubling over the prior year quarter, resulting in a more than 90% year-over-year increase in sellable digital impressions. We believe we remain on path for this revenue source to reach 20% of total revenue by 2023 year-end.
“Total outstanding debt as of March 31, 2023 was $290.0 million, and first quarter interest expense slightly declined to $6.6 million. Beasley had $35.9 million of cash and cash equivalents on hand at quarter end. We intend to keep our cash on the balance sheet in order to maintain our strong liquidity position, while we monitor the economic environment.
“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 was again evident in the strength of our first quarter results. Looking ahead, while we are hopeful that the operating environment will improve in the second quarter, we are closely monitoring the economy.”
