Beasley Broadcast Group has reported its fiscal results for the third quarter of 2022, with net revenue up 1.5% to $63.8 million, reflecting a year-over-year increase in digital revenue, political and other revenue, partially offset by a slight decrease in audio revenue related to softness in the national agency business. Digital revenue increased 23.1% by year-over-year.
Beasley reported operating income of $4.7 million in the third quarter compared to $4.9 million a year ago. Net income was $0.5 million in Q3 compared to a net loss of $1.6 million in the third quarter of 2021.
CEO Caroline Beasley said, “Beasley delivered another strong period of operating and financial performance, reflecting the ongoing success of our digital transformation and revenue diversification strategies. Top-line growth was the primary factor contributing to a 5.1% year-over-year increase in SOI to $12.3 million and was driven by continued strength in local audio advertising and impressive growth in our digital business.
“Regarding the economic environment, like many companies, we are managing through some challenging market conditions with a focus on what we can control. We continue to experience increased volatility in national spot advertising, which accounted for approximately 15% of our third quarter net revenues. The ongoing strength of our digital and local audio advertising revenues is helping us to partially offset these declines. We are also taking actions on the expense side, and have implemented approximately $10.0 million in expense reductions, of which roughly half were from a reduction to headcount.
“Digital remains a key component of our revenue diversification strategy. Digital revenue increased 23.1% year-over-year representing 16.0% of total third quarter revenues, while our digital margin improved. Our digital performance benefitted from a first full quarter contribution from the white label digital agency we acquired in late June, which we believe will continue to accelerate our digital revenue growth and provide meaningful synergies with our growing digital platform. In both the second and third quarters, digital revenue accounted for a larger share of our revenue than national advertising, and we expect this revenue source to continue offsetting national spot weakness in the coming quarters.
“Total outstanding debt as of September 30, 2022 was $290.0 million. During the quarter, we repurchased $5.0 million aggregate principal amount of our senior secured notes for an aggregate price equal to 77% of the principal amount and recorded an aggregate gain of $1.0 million as a result of the repurchases. Beasley had $32.8 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, given the uncertain economic environment.
“In summary, we believe these results demonstrate the strength and relevance of our industry-leading audio and digital content, as well as our teams’ extraordinary efforts to serve our listeners, customers and communities through challenging circumstances. And while we cannot control how the economic situation evolves in the coming months, we have already taken decisive steps to mitigate the impact of near-term headwinds and drive continued progress against our long-term growth strategy. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on maximizing our growth opportunities, managing our expenses and capital structure, serving our audiences and advertisers and delivering results for our stockholders.”
