Walter F. Ulloa
Analyst · Noble Financial
Thank you, Mike. Good afternoon, everyone, welcome to Entravision's First Quarter 2014 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today is Chris Young, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I must inform you that this conference call will contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ. Please refer to our SEC filings for a list of risks and uncertainties that could impact actual results. This call is the property of Entravision Communications Corporation. Any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast of this call in any form without the express written consent of Entravision Communications Corporation is strictly prohibited. Also, this call will include certain non-GAAP financial measures. The company has provided a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP measures in today's press release. The press release is available on the company's website and was filed with the SEC on Form 8-K. We generated strong financial results during the first quarter, and we are off to a solid start in 2014. Our core television and radio properties outperformed the broader market once again. And we made additional progress strengthening our digital offerings and marketing and sales capabilities. Our strong position in key Latino markets nationwide and the expansion of our multimedia offerings gives us the unique ability to deliver robust, multi-platform campaigns to reach the rapidly expanding Latino population. Consolidated first quarter revenue was $52.7 million, up 7% compared to the first quarter of 2013. We generated consolidated adjusted EBITDA growth of 12% and year-over-year free cash flow growth of 172%. Operating expenses were up 5% for the quarter. EPS for the quarter was $0.05 per share compared to negative $0.01 per share in the first quarter of 2013. Free cash flow, as defined in our earnings release, increased 172% to $9.4 million or $0.11 per share for the quarter, compared to the $3.4 million or $0.04 per share for the same quarter last year. Cash interest expense was 30 -- $3.2 million compared to $7.3 million in the same quarter last year, due to the successful refinancing of our debt during the third quarter of 2013. Now moving on to our operating highlights for the first quarter. Our television revenue increased 8% during the first quarter. Local television revenues increased 8% in the quarter, while national TV revenues were flat. On a core basis, excluding political revenues and retransmission fees, first quarter TV revenues increased 3% in the first quarter of 2013. Core local television revenue grew 6%, while core national revenue decreased 2% during the quarter. This growth demonstrates our ability to consistently outperform the broader television industry. The Television Advertising Bureau estimated that core television industry revenue increased 1% in the first quarter compared to our core television growth of 3%. We have now significantly exceeded the industry's core growth projections for 10 consecutive quarters. We also continue to see strong growth in the automotive category, which was up 16% during the first quarter. Automotive spending growth at our television stations has now posted double-digit increases in 17 consecutive quarters. We believe it is worth noting that once again, the growth in automotive spending was broad as we generated sales growth in all 3 automotive tiers. Tier 1 was up 20%, Tier 2 plus 12% and Tier 3 plus 12%. In the first quarter, we generated growth with 7 of our top-10 automotive brands, led by Nissan, Hyundai and Toyota. We expect continued momentum in the automotive category during 2014, given the anticipated robust product cycle, strong demand, low borrowing rates, as well as the automotive category's historical investment in the World Cup. Beyond automotive, we experienced growth in 4 of our top-10 categories during the first quarter, including health care, groceries and services. The health care category was up 86% during the quarter, while groceries finished up 14%. The health care category continued its momentum with a combination of Affordable Care Act campaigns, including Covered California and Nevada Health Link, as well as several branding campaigns from WellPoint, Molina Healthcare, Kaiser Permanente and Blue Cross Blue Shield. The grocery category was boosted by significant increases from H-E-B and Mariana's during the quarter. During the first quarter, we added 57 new television advertisers who invested $10,000 or more across our television properties. New clients include Lexus, Southwest Airlines and Hyundai Dealers. Turning to our ratings performance. Our Univision affiliates extended their ratings leadership position in the February 2014 sweeps. Among all adults 18 to 49, regardless of language, 4 Entravision Univision affiliates ranked #1 or 2, sign on to sign off. Additionally, 6 Entravision Univision affiliates are either #1 or 2 among all adults 18 to 34. Three of our UniMás affiliates are the #2-ranked Spanish-language television stations in their markets in adults 18 to 49. Four were also ranked #2 among adults 18 to 34. During our Prime Time Novela Block, the Entravision Univision television affiliates delivered higher ratings among adults 18 to 49 in 9 markets than at least one of the big 4 English-language television affiliates. In the early Univision Network newscasts, 10 of our affiliates are #1 or #2, regardless of language; 7 Entravision Univision affiliates are #1 or #2 in early local news; and 5 are #1 or #2 in late local news, again, regardless of language. At our radio division, revenues increased 6% in the first quarter. Our station group exceeded the revenue growth of the broader radio industry, which Miller Kaplan estimates at 3% during the first quarter in the 12 markets in which we subscribe. Local revenue, which represents 66% of our total revenue, came in flat for the quarter. And national revenue, which represents 34% of our total radio revenue, saw an increase of 15% compared to the first quarter of 2013. National revenue grew in each month of the quarter. Excluding political revenue on a core basis, our radio revenues finished up 5.4% in the quarter. Core national revenues during the quarter were positively impacted by the strong performance of our Entravision Solutions Audio Network, which allows advertisers to reach 95% of the total U.S. Latino population. We continue to expand our roster of advertisers and we had -- as we had a total of 28 Entravision Solutions Network advertisers during the first quarter. Top network advertisers during the first quarter included O'Reilly Auto Parts, Lowe's, Telemundo, Sears and JCPenney. The growth of network revenue was driven by the top-ranked afternoon show, Erazno y La Chokolata. We saw an increase in network spending of 762% because of the absence of Piolin and the increase in ratings and coverage, which has made this program the leading Spanish-language syndicated audio show in the nation. We recorded revenue growth in 6 of our top 10 categories in our radio business in the first quarter, including telecom, travel and leisure, health care, restaurants, media and automotive repair and services. The automotive category, which is the second-highest revenue-generating category for our audio unit was down 2% for the quarter. The telecom category increased 114% in the quarter. This increase was a result of increased spending of 462% from MetroPCS, in addition to increased spending from Sprint and Verizon. The health care category experienced 54% increase in revenue in the quarter, propelled by Covered California, Connect Colorado, New Mexico Health Insurance and Kaiser Permanente. Travel and leisure, restaurants and media had modest revenue increases in the quarter. Revenue from the surfaces -- services and retail categories decreased in the quarter. The targeted reach of our radio stations and our strong sales force have continued to attract new advertisers. During the first quarter, we added 34 new radio advertisers who spent more than $10,000 and which generated approximately $580,000 in advertising revenues. These new advertisers include Rapido Express, Inland Empire Health Plan, H&R Block, Universal Studios Hollywood and Advance Auto Parts, just to name a few. During the first quarter, we prepared for the creation and launch of a California superstation -- Southern California superstation, José FM. José FM combines the 2 signals of KLYY, the 97.5, and KDLE and KDLD 103.1. The signal provides strategic and complementary coverage in key high-density Latino areas throughout Los Angeles County, Orange County and the San Fernando Valley. Prior to the creation of this L.A. superstation, KDLD, KDLE and KLYY successfully simulcasted a top-rated morning show in Los Angeles, Alex "El Genio" Lucas, which began in 2013. The new José FM combines the best content of these stations, creating a dominant superstation in the #1 Latino radio market in the country, Los Angeles. The first weekly trend for José FM was very positive. In Los Angeles, it has showed that Erazno y La Chokolata debuted impressively in a number of key demos: #1 in Latino adults and males 25 to 54; #1 in Latino males 18 to 49; and #2 in Latino adults 18 to 49. In the Riverside and San Bernardino Metro, it has showed that Erazno y La Chokolata debuted at #1 in every Latino adult and male demo. In addition, this positive news from the first week's trends for José FM include strong prime week performance, Monday to Friday 6:00 a to 7:00 p.m., Los Angeles, with a simulcast debuting as the #4-ranked radio station in Spanish and Latino adults, 25 to 54; #1 ranked Spanish-language radio station in adults 25 to 54; and #3 ranked Spanish-language radio station in Latino males 18 to 49. The L.A. radio cluster has a strategic sales plan in place to take full advantage of José FM's ratings dominance. Our Los Angeles cluster has aggressive new business strategies, targeting national and local advertisers through active account development, intense cold calling, sales training and sales performance initiatives. We also launched a new program drive -- a new morning drive program, En Tricolor Levanton, in February. This fast-paced music-intense program has already made an impact in the markets in which it airs. Four of our radio stations airing Levanton are already in the top 10 in their respective markets, regardless of language. Additionally, we launched Pajarete, hosted by 2 young, enormously talented women, Armida y La Flaka, in mid day on all of our Tricolor Mexican regional stations. Entravision has now become the leading syndicator of Spanish-language audio content in the United States. For the Winter 2014 radio ratings, our radio stations continue to be ranked among the leaders in adults 18 to 49 against all competitors, regardless of language. In the 10 Entravision markets measured in the Winter book, 10 of our radio stations are in the top 10, full week, Monday through Sunday, 6 a to 12 a. In Morning Drive, 5 of our radio stations airing El Show El Genio on José stations are in the top 10, and our cornerstone afternoon drive program, Erazno y La Chokolata is in the top 10 in 6 of our markets, regardless of language. Let me now turn to our digital business, where we advanced our online mobile and social media platforms and further integrated our digital and traditional advertising offerings. We continue to strengthen our digital assets and today offer robust, integrated advertising opportunities that connect brands with Latino consumers across all major media platforms. First quarter interactive revenue increased 11% compared to the first quarter of last year. This marked our 23rd straight quarter of year-over-year double-digit digital revenue growth. Our digital revenues continue to account for over 5% of our total local revenues. Digital is a key area of strategic investment for Entravision, as we look to broaden our capabilities and deepen our connection with Latinos across all new media platforms. It is increasingly important for us to deliver engaging content and grow our connected audience. We published over 11,000 local new news video stories online across our markets in the first quarter. We streamed 6.4 million hours of audio content during the quarter, up 35% from last quarter, and up 64% over last year's comparable quarter. During the first quarter, we had 833,000 unique audio streamers, with an average session length of 31 minutes. In the first quarter, we relaunched Todobebe. Todobebe is a digital destination in premium brand targeting Latino mothers in the United States and Latin America. This property acquired in early 2013 seeks to fully leverage online, TV and radio for brand promotion and to provide new omnichannel solutions for advertisers targeting Latino mothers. Quickly, Todobebe accumulated more than 300,000 followers on Facebook and is growing its online traffic at high double-digits every month. Todobebe fits within Entravision's new, enhanced premium content, big data and audience knowledge strategy. Mobile revenues increased 8% during the first quarter year-over-year, and mobile usage remains at all-time highs. During the quarter, we sent over 600,000 text messages to our mobile audience for clients including MetroPCS, T-Mobile, Cricket, AEG, Jiffy Lube, Heineken and others. Another area of focus is driving increasing social media engagement. At the end of the first quarter, we had over 890,000 followers across our social media channels, which is up 116% over last year. Our Luminar business continues to add clients to its roster, as well as build out its capabilities. The Luminar data store now contains consumer data from 17 million Latino adults, including transactional records from grocery, retail, catalog and online. We are transforming the offline buy transactions data into cookies to segment and target audiences with the Luminar Audience Platform with online display, video, social and mobile. Overall, we are pleased how far we've advanced as we continue our transformation of Entravision from a pure-play broadcasting company into a global integrated media and technology company, targeting Latino consumers and audiences. Entravision's total second quarter revenue, including retransmission fees, is pacing mid-single digits for both our television and radio businesses. Total revenue for the third quarter is pacing in the mid-teens over last year's comparable quarter. We continue to remain bullish about our prospects for the 2014 World Cup soccer games. Currently, we have about $8.4 million of committed investment in the upcoming World Cup games. It's important to note that only about 65% of this $8.4 million of World Cup committed dollars has been entered into our traffic system and is therefore reflected in our pacings. This amount of committed revenue is significantly higher than the $7.4 million we generated in the 2010 World Cup games, and almost at par with our record 2006 World Cup revenue of $8.9 million. Our goal for this year's World Cup games is $12.5 million, and we continue to believe that this aggressive goal is achievable. It is important to note that 80% of total World Cup revenue will be booked in the second quarter and about 20% in third quarter. In summary, our first quarter results highlight our solid start to 2014 as we continue to execute our multi-platform strategy, generate core advertising growth across our radio and television assets and deliver strong free cash flow growth. Our strategic progress remains centered on strengthening our multimedia assets and investing in the ongoing transformation of Entravision. We believe our expanding sales and research capabilities and ability to connect brands with expanding and increasingly important Latino audience places us on solid ground to continue driving growth and deliver returns to our shareholders. I will now turn the call over to Chris Young, our Chief Financial Officer, for a review of our financial information.