Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Nexstar Broadcasting reports record second quarter


Nexstar Broadcasting reported record revenue during the second quarter, according to a news release filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among the highlights of the release:

Net revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2007 grew 6.5% to $68.7 million from $64.6 million in the second quarter of 2006. Income from operations was $13.4 million for the three months ended June 30, 2007 compared with $11.1 million in the quarter ended June 30, 2006. The Company reported a basic and diluted net loss per share of $0.05 for the three months ended June 30, 2007 compared to a basic and diluted net loss per share of $0.08 in the second quarter of 2006.

Gross local and national advertising revenues increased by 5.1% in the second quarter of 2007 compared with the second quarter of 2006. Broadcast cash flow rose 5.0% to $26.8 million in the second quarter of 2007 compared with $25.5 million in the second quarter of 2006. EBITDA totaled $23.6 million for the second quarter of 2007, an 8.5% increase over the second quarter of 2006, while free cash flow rose to $9.6 million in the second quarter of 2007, a 47% increase compared with the second quarter of 2006.


CEO Perry Sook noted the success of the retransmission contracts Nexstar has landed, as well as the new websites launched at its television stations, including Four States Home Page, the site for KSNF and KODE in Joplin:

Nexstar is beginning to generate growing new media revenue with 2007 second quarter new media revenue growing about 244% over 2007 first quarter levels. We have transitioned our TV station websites into community portals ahead of schedule and given that 14 local station sites were launched during the second quarter, we are still only recording early stage contributions from what we expect to develop into another important revenue source.

"Nexstar’s high margin retransmission and new media initiatives are expected to be significant and growing contributors to Nexstar's results on a going forward basis. Furthermore, Nexstar's focus on local sales and local news leadership in our mid-sized markets support our expectations for continued leading revenue share in the majority of the markets in which we operate. During the second quarter new local direct billing totaled approximately $3.7 million, representing continued strength in bringing new advertisers to our platform."


One sour note in the release was the increase in Nexstar's indebtedness from $681 million to $682 million.

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