Curious as to how Salem Media Group fared financially during the first three months of 2020?
You’ll have your answer on Monday, following the Closing Bell on Wall Street.
The owner of Christian-themed and conservative Talk radio stations, in addition to a publishing arm, will host a conference call with financial analysts at 5pm Eastern Monday (6/1) to discuss the results.
Salem stock has taken a beating over the last 12 months, with the COVID-19 pandemic only fueling the economic downturn at the Ventura County, Calif.-based company. On June 17, 2019, shares were priced at $2.45.
Today, they are hovering just over $0.90, after having fallen as deep as $0.69 on May 13.
On a 10-year chart, Salem is at its lowest point. Since July 1999, SALM has fared worse only once — during the Great Recession, when shares fell as low as $0.52 in February 2009.
For investors, these are times of patience and long-view thinking.
On May 12, the company announced that it has put a temporary suspension on its regular quarterly cash dividend for its common stock. Salem said the dividend freeze is part “of a larger effort to conserve cash.” When the dividend suspension is lifted will depend on the board’s reassessment of “facts and circumstances at that time.”
Furthermore, “several cost reduction strategies designed to further preserve capital and liquidity” are now in place. This includes limiting capital expenditures, reducing discretionary spending such as travel and entertainment, eliminating open positions and new hires, reducing staffing when appropriate and implementing salary cuts, and even requesting rent concessions from landlords — something not noted by other companies taking emergency measures to ensure it has enough cash on hand to keep operations going.
And, Salem notes that it is even requesting discounts from vendors.
“Taken together, Salem believes these are the right actions to successfully weather this challenging environment,” the company said.
