Revenues were up at soon-to-be-sold Fisher Communications, but unfortunately, expenses were up even more. However, the negative margin posted by the company Q1 wasn’t as negative as it was during the previous Q1 comparison.
Fisher, which once had extensive radio coverage in the western portion of the US, is now primarily a television company. And it will soon be a part of Sinclair Broadcast Group.
The bottom line feature a loss of $800K, or $0.09 per share, which despite the red ink was better than the prior Q1, which produced a loss of $1.9M/$0.21 per share.
Revenues were up 8% to $36.8M and adjusted EBITDA was up 51% to $2.2M.
The bulk of the revenue was generated by the television group, which accounted for $32.6M of the company’s net revenue. That total represented a 12% increase over the prior Q1. TV cash flow was an even brighter bright spot, registering a 33% gain to $7M.
Stated President/CEO Colleen Brown, “2013 is off to a strong start, led by the continued market share growth among our broadcast stations. This momentum reflects the quality and value of our local brands and is the direct result of solid execution across our group of broadcast stations. A testament to the excellence of our local media properties, Fisher recently dominated the 2013 Edward R. Murrow Awards in the Northwest region, bringing home 10 Edward R. Murrow awards, including the coveted Overall Excellence awards for KOMO-TV (ABC) and KOMO Newsradio in Seattle. At the same time, we coupled operational execution with financial excellence, delivering substantial year-over-year improvements in TV cash flow and adjusted EBITDA.”
