Earnings Labs

Entravision Communications Corporation (EVC)

Q4 2015 Earnings Call· Thu, Feb 25, 2016

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day and welcome to the Entravision Communication’s Fourth Quarter 2015 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. All participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Walter Ulloa. Please go ahead.

Walter Ulloa

Analyst

Thank you, Kate. Good afternoon everyone and welcome to Entravision’s fourth quarter 2015 earnings conference call. And joining me today on the call 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 a property of Entravision Communications Corporation. Any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast of this call in any form without the expressed written consent of Entravision Communications Corporation is strictly prohibited. Also, this call will include 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 it was filed with the SEC on Form 8-K. Now, moving on to a review of the fourth quarter and the full year, during the fourth quarter, our performance was driven by strong revenue growth at our audio and digital businesses, along with core advertising growth from our television group. Overall, the fourth quarter concluded another successful year as we made further progress transforming Entravision into a leading multi-platform media company, targeting US Latinos across acculturation levels and devices. Our digital platforms and revenues continued to expand and our unique collection of assets and capabilities allowed us to deliver a highly targeted and engaged US Latino audiences. We remain well positioned with many of the nation’s most populated Latino markets and are focused on continuing to expand our audience shares. We also continued to return capital to our shareholders through a recently increased quarterly dividend, while at…

Christopher Young

Analyst

Thank you, Walter, and good afternoon everyone. As Walter has discussed, net revenue for the quarter was slightly up at $65.4 million compared to $65.3 million in the same quarter of last year. Operating expenses increased 4% to $39.6 million and consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $18.8 million. Net revenue for the year was $254.1 million, up 5%. Operating expenses increased 7% to $153.1 million and consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $76.3 million for the year. During the fourth quarter of 2015, the company paid cash dividend of $0.03125 per share to shareholders of the company’s Class A, Class B and Class U common stock. The total amount of cash disbursed for the dividend was $2.8 million. For the year, the total amount of cash disbursed for dividends declared and paid was $9.4 million. The company also announced today that the Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.03125 per share to shareholders of the company’s common stock payable on March 31, 2016. The total amount of cash to be disbursed for this quarterly dividend will be approximately $2.8 million. As previously announced, we currently anticipate making cash dividends on a quarterly basis in future periods. In addition, during the fourth quarter of 2015, the company voluntarily prepaid $20 million of term loans under the company’s senior secured term loan credit facility. During the year, the company made principal term loan payments of $23.8 million. The ending balance of the term loans as of 12/31/2015 is $316.6 million. For the quarter, TV net revenue was down 8% to $39.8 million compared to $43.3 million in the same quarter of last year. The decrease in our TV segment revenue was primarily attributable to the absence of $4.7 million in political advertising revenue in 2015 compared to 2014 and an 8%…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Michael Kupinski of Noble Financial.

Michael Kupinski

Analyst

First, couple of questions here. What is the base number for Q1 2015 that you are using related to your pacing data that you’ve given? Is it 34.5 million or what number is that?

Walter Ulloa

Analyst

You’re looking for the base number of what division?

Michael Kupinski

Analyst

Basing your first quarter pacing data, you’re talking low to mid single digit?

Walter Ulloa

Analyst

Low to mid single digit is for TV and positive low to mid single digits for radio as well.

Michael Kupinski

Analyst

So I guess what I’m also asking [Technical Difficulty] are there any updates there?

Walter Ulloa

Analyst

We were talking over each other. Can you repeat the question, Michael?

Michael Kupinski

Analyst

Yes. Where does the company stand with the current Univision proxy agreement, any updates?

Walter Ulloa

Analyst

That agreement is extended until March 31 and we continue negotiating with Univision.

Michael Kupinski

Analyst

Is there any reason why it’s being pushed forward at this point?

Walter Ulloa

Analyst

It’s a complicated agreement, I’d just say that. There are a number of issues we have to address. And so it’s just taking time. They’re busy; we’re busy. Everything takes time, but that’s really all I have to say.

Michael Kupinski

Analyst

In terms of – Univision obviously has some network ratings issues, I was just wondering to what – it seems like you guys are – the strength of your television ratings seem to be offsetting that. Is there any way that you can quantify what impact Univision network ratings is having on your local stations?

Walter Ulloa

Analyst

No, I don’t think we can quantify what impact the network ratings are having. I mean, we continue to use all of our assets to bolster our Univision programming. We know that Univision is working diligently to try to improve their performance of the network programming. So as long as we continue to work hard and bolster our TV programming with our radio assets and our digital assets, we’ll continue to perform well. And at some point here soon, I think Univision’s programming will rebound like it always has and will be back growing our ratings steadily.

Michael Kupinski

Analyst

And then television revenues were better than expected in the fourth quarter, were there anything in the television expenses other than extra commissions and things like that related to the higher revenues? Or did the company step up news or other programming to strengthen the station ratings and so forth? Can you just give us a little thought about and color on the expense line and how that might look for 2016?

Christopher Young

Analyst

For expenses, Michael, on a cash basis, in Q4 operating expenses were actually down 1%. So there wasn’t any noticeable increase in investment, I guess, is what you’re alluding to for the TV segment. And as far as 2016 is concerned, we don’t give guidance for expenses. Generally speaking, if it’s a very successful political year as well as core year, there will be higher variable expenses impacting our expense line item. But that’s really the only point I’d mention there.

Michael Kupinski

Analyst

I’m just asking outside of the variable expenses, are there any initiatives that the company has? I remember that the company had initiatives for Obama Care and stuff like that. I was just wondering are there any initiatives this year that would cause the expense line to increase more than necessary variable costs, I guess, that you would have with higher revenues.

Christopher Young

Analyst

I think the short answer there is we continue to invest in our local news. And to that extent, controlling that portion of the television business which we have control over and growing it, there may be some modest expense increases with respect to news. And also remember, it’s a political year. So we’ve got two political contentions that we will have coverage at that will have some incremental expenses tied to those as well. Michael, just a point on that pace front, the basis, remember now, in the first quarter of last year, you had the telecom contract to the tune of about $5.0 million that needs to be factored out of that local positive low to mid single digit piece that we discussed.

Michael Kupinski

Analyst

I was just wondering, Chris, did that – because I know that you guys, when you give pacing data, it’s a little bit different than others and I was just wondering what is included in your base number related to television, you’re excluding retransmission revenue or are you including it, and is it excluding political?

Christopher Young

Analyst

That’s a great point, I’m glad to clarify it. So that is pure advertising revenue. We do not factor in retrans into that number, it’s just advertising. There is a little bit of political in that number, but political has not yet been big enough in the quarter for it to have an impact.

Operator

Operator

The next question is from Tracy Young of Evercore.

Tracy Young

Analyst

Could you just, Chris, you spoke a little bit fast when you went through the numbers. Was the same-station TV core down 1.6%?

Christopher Young

Analyst

Tracy, same-station core TV for the quarter was up 1%, excluding retrans. Including retrans, it’s up 3%.

Tracy Young

Analyst

And how much is political in Q4, was there any?

Christopher Young

Analyst

There was some political in Q4, it was for television, all-in it was about $120,000, not a lot to move the needle.

Tracy Young

Analyst

Just so we have it for next year. And then in terms of CapEx, what was it for 2015 and did you give a guide for 2016?

Christopher Young

Analyst

The guide for 2016 is $10.5 million. And the final CapEx number for 2015 was $13.7 million.

Tracy Young

Analyst

And then just on radio, sometimes you give some comparison versus the market in LA. Can you give any color on that or versus Miller Kaplan numbers?

Christopher Young

Analyst

We have that in our – Walter mentioned in the beginning in our script.

Walter Ulloa

Analyst

In Los Angeles, we pointed out that we grew our revenue 19% in the quarter as the LA market was plus 3% according to Miller Kaplan. And then for the year, our Los Angeles audio assets grew revenue at a healthy 24% over 2014, whereas the LA market was flat according to Miller Kaplan.

Operator

Operator

The next question is from Amy Yong of Macquarie.

Alexandra Saks

Analyst

This is Alexandra for Amy. Do you have any interest in divesting spectrum? And if so, what would be the timing of it and how would the proceeds be used?

Walter Ulloa

Analyst

We’re currently not going to comment on any spectrum matters, we’re in a quiet period as a result of FCC’s dictate. So we can’t really comment on anything around the upcoming spectrum auctions.

Operator

Operator

There are no additional questions at this time. This concludes our question-and-answer session. I’d like to turn the conference back over to management for closing remarks.

Walter Ulloa

Analyst

Thank you, Kate, and thank you everyone for participating on our fourth quarter 2015 earnings conference call. We look forward to talking to all of you in May when we will announce our first quarter 2016 earnings results. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today’s presentation. You may now disconnect.