A Softer Q4 For Saga

0

With a stock market plunge triggering a circuit breaker and the U.S. Capitol closed to the general public for the first time since 1918, COVID-19 concerns have greatly impacted many media companies on Wall Street.


While Saga Communications‘ shares are down in the long-term, the radio industry pure-play focused on medium- and small-sized markets may be on safer terrain, given their limited exposure to live events and sports programming.

That said, Saga was down slightly in Q4, according to its just-released results.

Net income fell to $3.84 million (64 cents per diluted share), from $4.3 million (72 cents).

Net revenue slipped to $31.8 million from $32.9 million.

But, political revenue may have played a part, as election-oriented dollars in Q4 were $535,000 compared to Q4 2019 totals of $1.6 million.

Further, Saga saw a $460,000 reduction in the company’s deferred tax provision. As a result, free cash flow was $5.4 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2019, compared to $5.9 million for the same period last year.

For full-year 2019, Net income was statistically flat, moving to $13.3 million ($2.23 per diluted share) from $13.7 million ($2.30).

At 10:16am Eastern, U.S. financial markets suspended trading due to the large coronavirus-triggered sell-off. Saga stood at $25.80, down 58 cents.

 


For additional colour from Saga Communications’ Q4 2019 and full-year ’19 financial results please be sure to visit Streamline Publications’ RadioInk.com on Friday morning.