In an SEC filing to announce a $300 million refinance, Entercom released preliminary operating results for the first quarter and early pacing numbers for Q2. The company expects Q1 revenue to come in between between $308 and $310 million with net income between $1.3 and $5.3 million. The company also says, as of April 18, pacing for Q2 is up over 4%.
In the first quarter of 2018 Entercom reported revenue of $300.6 million, a decline of 7.5% from Q1 2017. The company was also in the early stages of six format changes and dealing with the United States Traffic Network falling apart.
Entercom has been trying to convince investors that David Field’s plan, following the CBS merger, is working. Earlier this month, at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Field told investors that the second quarter was looking good, sharing the Q2 pacing numbers. Field has always said the integration with CBS’s station would not happen overnight. He has said “transformation takes time.” Not to mention a big, unexpected, road bump coming out of the gate with the USTN debacle, which cost the company millions in revenue, $12 million to be exact in the first quarter of 2018. Entercom began selling its own traffic airtime when USTN went belly up and has fixed that problem.
The release Monday about the $300 million refinance also said that during Q2 Entercom had completed asset sales that generated $24.5 million in net cash proceeds. “We used these proceeds, along with existing cash on hand, to repay $180.0 million in borrowings under our revolving credit facility. As of March 31, 2019, we had no balance on our revolving credit facility, excluding undrawn letters of credit, and we had cash of $68.3 million.”
Back in February, Entercom reported a 4% revenue increase for the fourth quarter of 2018.
The company will report first quarter earnings Tuesday, April 30. Entercom plans to pay down debt with the announced $300 million refinance.
