Tribune Media Company (TRCO) swung to a net loss for the quarter ended Mar. 31, 2017. The company has made a net loss of $85.59 million, or $ 0.99 a share in the quarter, against a net profit of $11.09 million, or $0.12 a share in the last year period. On an adjusted basis, loss per share was at $0.07 for the quarter compared with a profit of $0.23a share in the same period last year.
Revenue during the quarter dropped 6.10 percent to $439.91 million from $468.47 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter contracted 163 basis points over the previous year period to 77.54 percent. Operating margin for the quarter stood at negative 3.46 percent as compared to a positive 6.40 percent for the previous year period.
Operating loss for the quarter was $15.23 million, compared with an operating income of $29.99 million in the previous year period.
However, the adjusted EBITDA for the quarter stood at $57.55 million compared with $96.95 million in the prior year period. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA margin contracted 761 basis points in the quarter to 13.08 percent from 20.70 percent in the last year period.
“We are pleased and excited with Monday’s announcement that Tribune Media has agreed to be acquired by Sinclair Broadcast Group, marking the culmination of a thorough strategic review which focused on optimizing shareholder value,” said Peter Kern, Tribune Media’s interim chief executive officer. “As for the first quarter, our financial results were in line with our expectations, with anticipated reductions in political advertising and real estate revenues, and increased programming expenses due to airing more hours of originals at WGN America. We expect the next three quarters will be strong as we cycle past core advertising displacement, realize significant acceleration of retransmission revenues, and continue disciplined expense management across the company. We are reaffirming our full year financial guidance for 2017 and are intensely focused on completing our transaction with Sinclair.”
For financial year 2017, Tribune Media Company projects revenue to be in the range of $1,865 million to $1,916 million.
Operating cash flow drops significantly Tribune Media Company has generated cash of $75.21 million from operating activities during the quarter, down 38.50 percent or $ 47.09 million, when compared with the last year period.
Cash flow from investing activities was $589.36 million for the quarter as against cash outgo of $16.45 million in the last year period.
The company has spent $908.76 million cash to carry out financing activities during the quarter as against cash outgo of $43.86 million in the last year period.
Cash and cash equivalents stood at $346.22 million as on Mar. 31, 2017, up 6.65 percent or $21.58 million from $324.64 million on Mar. 31, 2016.
Working capital declines
Tribune Media Company has witnessed a decline in the working capital over the last year. It stood at $439.73 million as at Mar. 31, 2017, down 21.86 percent or $123 million from $562.73 million on Mar. 31, 2016. Current ratio was at 1.88 as on Mar. 31, 2017, down from 2.20 on Mar. 31, 2016.
Days sales outstanding went down to 92 days for the quarter compared with 94 days for the same period last year.
At the same time, days payable outstanding went down to 50 days for the quarter from 60 for the same period last year.
Debt comes down
Tribune Media Company has recorded a decline in total debt over the last one year. It stood at $3,032.27 million as on Mar. 31, 2017, down 11.45 percent or $392.18 million from $3,424.46 million on Mar. 31, 2016. Total debt was 37.20 percent of total assets as on Mar. 31, 2017, compared with 35.77 percent on Mar. 31, 2016. Debt to equity ratio was at 1.03 as on Mar. 31, 2017, up from 0.90 as on Mar. 31, 2016. Disclaimer: Please note that this is an auto-generated article. IRIS does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. IRIS especially states that it has no financial liability whatsoever to any user on account of the use of information provided on its website. For queries contact: [email protected]
