Scripps reports Q1 2025 financial results
Rhea-AI Summary
The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) reported Q1 2025 financial results with revenue of $524 million, down 6.6% year-over-year, and a net loss of $18.8 million or $0.22 per share. The company's Local Media segment revenue declined 7.8% to $325 million, while Scripps Networks revenue decreased 5.4% to $198 million. However, Scripps Networks achieved improved margins of 32% due to connected TV revenue growth and cost savings.
Notable achievements include completing negotiations for 25% of pay TV households, successful refinancing of term loans and credit facilities, and real estate sales generating $63 million. The company's net leverage ratio stood at 4.9x, with total debt at $2.6 billion. Scripps secured new sports content partnerships, including deals with Sports Illustrated for the SI Women's Games and the Elevance Health Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament.
Positive
- Scripps Networks margins improved to 32%, the highest since Q4 2022
- Successfully completed refinancing of 2026/2028 term loans and credit facilities
- Real estate sales generated $63 million from asset disposals
- Secured new women's sports content partnerships for ION network
- Reduced expenses in Scripps Networks division by 16% year-over-year
Negative
- Revenue declined 6.6% to $524 million in Q1 2025
- Net loss of $18.8 million, worse than prior year's $12.8 million loss
- Local Media revenue down 7.8% with declining core advertising and distribution revenue
- Suspended preferred stock dividend payments with $70.6 million in unpaid dividends
- High leverage ratio at 4.9x with $2.6 billion in total debt
News Market Reaction – SSP
On the day this news was published, SSP declined 10.42%, reflecting a significant negative market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Business notes:
- On April 10, the company successfully completed the refinancing of its 2026 term loan, 2028 term loan and revolving credit facility and entered into a new accounts receivable (AR) securitization facility, and is committed to proactive management of its remaining debt maturities.
- In the Scripps Networks division, margins reached
32% , attributable to growth in connected TV revenue, a steady general market and strong sales execution as well as cost savings announced in Q4 2024. First-quarter expenses decreased16% over Q1 2024. - In the second quarter, the Scripps Networks division will benefit from the return of the WNBA and the National Women's Soccer League to the ION network. A large percentage of the advertising dollars for the 2025 season were laid in during last year's upfront, and the remaining inventory is commanding premium advertising rates.
- In the Local Media division, the company completed legacy distribution revenue contracts that expired at the end of the first quarter covering about
25% of its pay TV households. Due to those renewals, both Q2 and full-year distribution revenue are expected to be about flat despite subscriber count declines. - Real estate sales of Scripps' West Palm Beach station building and five transmission towers have generated a total of
$63 million - Net leverage at the end of Q1 was 4.9x due to a positive financial performance, and the company expects to continue to reduce its leverage ratio this year.
From Scripps President and CEO Adam Symson:
"We began the year strong, outperforming financial expectations despite an uncertain macroeconomic environment. In the Scripps Networks division, effective sales execution combined with disciplined expense management produced our highest margins since Q4 2022. With the return of the women's sports seasons, we are optimistic about the division's growth outlook in the second and third quarters.
"To help our sales team meet the demand for live women's sports, we recently completed two new distribution agreements, including with Sports Illustrated for the SI Women's Games – a six-day competition of elite women athletes across six sports, taking place live nationally Oct. 28-Nov. 2 on ION. Scripps will share in profits from the event. ION also will become the exclusive television home for the Elevance Health Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off, a premier early-season women's college basketball tournament in November. These events will bring live women's sports to ION in the fourth quarter, when the WNBA and NWSL seasons have concluded, helping us fulfill advertiser demand for women's sports and more deeply connecting ION with women's sports fans and advertisers across the
"On the local broadcast station front, we expect industry deregulation to be a tailwind for Scripps and the sector when the Federal Communications Commission revisits the outdated ownership rules that govern us today. Greater broadcaster national scale and in-market depth will power new economic growth and support our ability to serve audiences and local communities.
"Over the past year, we have made significant progress on debt paydown and reducing leverage. Debt paydown remains our highest capital allocation priority. As we move through the first half of this year, we are navigating the headwinds of business uncertainty while maximizing revenue growth in connected TV and sports, delivering on Scripps Networks' margin expansion and positioning the company to benefit from the new regulatory environment."
Operating results
First-quarter company revenue was
Loss attributable to the shareholders of Scripps was
First-quarter 2025 results by segment compared to prior-period amounts:
Local Media
Revenue was
- Core advertising revenue decreased
3.1% to$132 million - Political revenue was
$3.3 million $15.2 million - Distribution revenue was
$187 million $197 million
Segment expenses increased
Segment profit was
Scripps Networks
Revenue was
Segment profit was
Financial condition
On March 31, cash and cash equivalents totaled
During the first quarter of 2025, we had
On April 10, we completed a series of previously announced refinancing transactions. Following the completion of the transactions, no amounts remain outstanding for our prior term loan that was due in 2026, our prior term loan that was due in 2028, or our prior revolving credit facility. We now have a new term loan due 2028 with
We did not declare or provide payment for the first-quarter 2025 preferred stock dividend. Deferral of preferred stock dividend payments provides us better flexibility for accelerating deleveraging and maximizing the paydown of our traditional bank debt. The
Looking ahead
Comparisons for our segments are to the same period in 2024.
Second-quarter 2025 | ||
Local Media revenue | Down high single-digit percent range | |
Local Media expense | Up low single-digit percent range | |
Scripps Networks revenue | About flat | |
Scripps Networks expense | Down low double-digit percent range | |
Shared services and corporate | About |
Conference call
A call with the company's senior management team will take place at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time tomorrow, Friday, May 9. The company's protocol for joining its earnings calls is as follows:
- To access a live webcast of the call, participants will need to register by visiting http://ir.scripps.com/. The registration link can be found on that page under "upcoming events."
- To dial in by phone, participants will first need to visit a website to receive the phone number. To receive a listen-only dial-in and PIN code, visit https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/aeukwtug/.
- Analysts who will be asking questions should visit this webpage to receive a different dial-in and PIN, which will identify them by name on the call: https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BIccb5710608ad4a019fe29699909354bd
A replay of the conference call will be archived and available online for an extended period of time. To access the audio replay, visit http://ir.scripps.com/ approximately four hours after the call, and the link can be found on that page under "audio/video links."
Media contact: Becca McCarter, The E.W. Scripps Company, (513) 410-2425, rebecca.mccarter@scripps.com
Investor contact: Carolyn Micheli, The E.W. Scripps Company, (513) 977-3732, carolyn.micheli@scripps.com
Forward-looking statements
This document contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the
About Scripps
The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) is a diversified media company focused on creating connection. As one of the nation's largest local TV broadcasters, Scripps serves communities with quality, objective local journalism and operates a portfolio of more than 60 stations in 40+ markets. Scripps reaches households across the
THE E.W. SCRIPPS COMPANY | ||||
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS | ||||
Three Months Ended March 31, | ||||
(in thousands, except per share data) | 2025 | 2024 | ||
Operating revenues | $ 524,393 | $ 561,464 | ||
Segment, shared services and corporate expenses | (454,392) | (474,226) | ||
Restructuring costs | (4,144) | (5,015) | ||
Depreciation and amortization of intangible assets | (38,460) | (38,688) | ||
Gains (losses), net on disposal of property and equipment | 78 | (147) | ||
Operating expenses | (496,918) | (518,076) | ||
Operating income | 27,475 | 43,388 | ||
Interest expense | (43,750) | (54,917) | ||
Defined benefit pension plan income (expense) | (338) | 177 | ||
Miscellaneous, net | 156 | 16,821 | ||
Income (loss) from operations before income taxes | (16,457) | 5,469 | ||
Benefit (provision) for income taxes | 13,002 | (3,843) | ||
Net income (loss) | (3,455) | 1,626 | ||
Preferred stock dividends | (15,388) | (14,377) | ||
Net loss attributable to the shareholders of The E.W. Scripps Company | $ (18,843) | $ (12,751) | ||
Net loss per diluted share of common stock attributable to the shareholders of The E.W. | $ (0.22) | $ (0.15) | ||
Weighted average diluted shares outstanding | 86,912 | 84,891 | ||
See notes to results of operations. |
Notes to Results of Operations
1. SEGMENT INFORMATION
We determine our operating segments based upon our management and internal reporting structure, as well as the basis that our chief operating decision maker makes resource-allocation decisions.
Our Local Media segment includes more than 60 local television stations and their related digital operations. It is comprised of 18 ABC affiliates, 11 NBC affiliates, nine CBS affiliates and four FOX affiliates. We also have 11 independent stations and 10 additional low power stations. Our Local Media segment earns revenue primarily from the sale of advertising to local, national and political advertisers and retransmission fees received from cable operators, telecommunications companies, satellite carriers and over-the-top virtual MVPDs.
Our Scripps Networks segment includes national news outlets Scripps News and Court TV as well as popular entertainment brands ION, Bounce, Grit, ION Mystery, ION Plus and Laff. The Scripps Networks reach nearly every
Our segment results reflect the impact of intercompany carriage agreements between our local broadcast television stations and our national networks. The intercompany carriage fee revenue earned by our local broadcast television stations is equal to the carriage fee expense incurred by our national networks. We also allocate a portion of certain corporate costs and expenses, including accounting, human resources, employee benefit and information technology to our segments. These intercompany agreements and allocations are generally amounts agreed upon by management, which may differ from an arms-length amount.
The other segment caption aggregates our operating segments that are too small to report separately. Costs for centrally provided services and certain corporate costs that are not allocated to the segments are included in shared services and corporate costs. These unallocated corporate costs would also include the costs associated with being a public company. Corporate assets are primarily cash and cash equivalents, property and equipment primarily used for corporate purposes and deferred income taxes.
Our chief operating decision maker evaluates operating performance and makes decisions about the allocation of resources to our segments using a measure called segment profit. Segment profit excludes interest, defined benefit pension plan amounts, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, impairment charges, divested operating units, restructuring activities, investment results and certain other items that are included in net income (loss) determined in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in
Information regarding our operating performance is as follows:
Three Months Ended March 31, | ||||||
(in thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | Change | |||
Segment operating revenues: | ||||||
Local Media | $ 325,389 | $ 352,836 | (7.8) % | |||
Scripps Networks | 198,007 | 209,278 | (5.4) % | |||
Other | 5,680 | 4,113 | 38.1 % | |||
Intersegment eliminations | (4,683) | (4,763) | (1.7) % | |||
Total operating revenues | $ 524,393 | $ 561,464 | (6.6) % | |||
Segment profit (loss): | ||||||
Local Media | $ 34,919 | $ 65,556 | (46.7) % | |||
Scripps Networks | 64,093 | 49,654 | 29.1 % | |||
Other | (6,405) | (6,397) | 0.1 % | |||
Shared services and corporate | (22,606) | (21,575) | 4.8 % | |||
Restructuring costs | (4,144) | (5,015) | ||||
Depreciation and amortization of intangible assets | (38,460) | (38,688) | ||||
Gains (losses), net on disposal of property and equipment | 78 | (147) | ||||
Interest expense | (43,750) | (54,917) | ||||
Defined benefit pension plan income (expense) | (338) | 177 | ||||
Miscellaneous, net | 156 | 16,821 | ||||
Income (loss) from operations before income taxes | $ (16,457) | $ 5,469 | ||||
Operating results for our Local Media segment were as follows:
Three Months Ended March 31, | ||||||
(in thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | Change | |||
Segment operating revenues: | ||||||
Core advertising | $ 132,146 | $ 136,443 | (3.1) % | |||
Political | 3,263 | 15,166 | (78.5) % | |||
Distribution | 187,191 | 197,499 | (5.2) % | |||
Other | 2,789 | 3,728 | (25.2) % | |||
Total operating revenues | 325,389 | 352,836 | (7.8) % | |||
Segment costs and expenses: | ||||||
Employee compensation and benefits | 105,169 | 106,726 | (1.5) % | |||
Programming | 139,697 | 130,744 | 6.8 % | |||
Other expenses | 45,604 | 49,810 | (8.4) % | |||
Total costs and expenses | 290,470 | 287,280 | 1.1 % | |||
Segment profit | $ 34,919 | $ 65,556 | (46.7) % | |||
Operating results for our Scripps Networks segment were as follows:
Three Months Ended March 31, | ||||||
(in thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | Change | |||
Total operating revenues | $ 198,007 | $ 209,278 | (5.4) % | |||
Segment costs and expenses: | ||||||
Employee compensation and benefits | 20,873 | 29,981 | (30.4) % | |||
Programming | 76,410 | 89,162 | (14.3) % | |||
Other expenses | 36,631 | 40,481 | (9.5) % | |||
Total costs and expenses | 133,914 | 159,624 | (16.1) % | |||
Segment profit | $ 64,093 | $ 49,654 | 29.1 % | |||
2. CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands) | As of March 31, 2025 | As of | ||
ASSETS | ||||
Current assets: | ||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ 23,959 | $ 23,852 | ||
Other current assets | 574,189 | 606,163 | ||
Total current assets | 598,148 | 630,015 | ||
Investments | 15,275 | 8,884 | ||
Property and equipment | 430,737 | 453,900 | ||
Operating lease right-of-use assets | 84,229 | 90,136 | ||
Goodwill | 1,968,574 | 1,968,574 | ||
Other intangible assets | 1,613,077 | 1,635,488 | ||
Programming | 391,359 | 402,459 | ||
Miscellaneous | 14,790 | 9,119 | ||
TOTAL ASSETS | $ 5,116,189 | $ 5,198,575 | ||
LIABILITIES AND EQUITY | ||||
Current liabilities: | ||||
Accounts payable | $ 91,497 | $ 100,669 | ||
Unearned revenue | 12,336 | 18,159 | ||
Current portion of long-term debt | 40,612 | 15,612 | ||
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities | 295,225 | 347,954 | ||
Total current liabilities | 439,670 | 482,394 | ||
Long-term debt (less current portion) | 2,558,994 | 2,560,560 | ||
Other liabilities (less current portion) | 797,802 | 837,607 | ||
Total equity | 1,319,723 | 1,318,014 | ||
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY | $ 5,116,189 | $ 5,198,575 |
3. EARNINGS PER SHARE ("EPS")
Unvested awards of share-based payments with non-forfeitable rights to receive dividends or dividend equivalents, such as certain of our RSUs, are considered participating securities for purposes of calculating EPS. Under the two-class method, we allocate a portion of net income to these participating securities and, therefore, exclude that income from the calculation of EPS for common stock. We do not allocate losses to the participating securities.
The following table presents information about basic and diluted weighted-average shares outstanding:
Three Months Ended March 31, | ||||
(in thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | ||
Numerator (for basic and diluted earnings per share) | ||||
Net income (loss) | $ (3,455) | $ 1,626 | ||
Less preferred stock dividends | (15,388) | (14,377) | ||
Numerator for basic and diluted earnings per share | $ (18,843) | $ (12,751) | ||
Denominator | ||||
Basic weighted-average shares outstanding | 86,912 | 84,891 | ||
Effect of dilutive securities | — | — | ||
Diluted weighted-average shares outstanding | 86,912 | 84,891 | ||
4. NON-GAAP INFORMATION
In addition to results prepared in accordance with GAAP, this earnings release discusses adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP performance measure that management and the company's Board of Directors uses to evaluate the performance of the business. We also believe that the non-GAAP measure provides useful information to investors by allowing them to view our business through the eyes of management and is a measure that is frequently used by industry analysts, investors and lenders as a measure of valuation for broadcast companies.
Adjusted EBITDA is calculated as income (loss) from continuing operations, net of tax, plus income tax expense
(benefit), interest expense, losses (gains) on extinguishment of debt, defined benefit pension plan expense (income), share-based compensation costs, depreciation, amortization of intangible assets, impairment of goodwill, loss (gain) on business and asset disposals, acquisition and integration costs, restructuring charges and certain other miscellaneous items. We consider adjusted EBITDA to be an indicator of our operating performance.
A reconciliation of the adjusted EBITDA measure to the comparable financial measure in accordance with GAAP is as follows:
Three Months Ended March 31, | ||||
(in thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | ||
Net income (loss) | $ (3,455) | $ 1,626 | ||
Provision (benefit) for income taxes | (13,002) | 3,843 | ||
Interest expense | 43,750 | 54,917 | ||
Defined benefit pension plan expense (income) | 338 | (177) | ||
Share-based compensation costs | 5,605 | 4,606 | ||
Depreciation | 14,904 | 15,120 | ||
Amortization of intangible assets | 23,556 | 23,568 | ||
Losses (gains), net on disposal of property and equipment | (78) | 147 | ||
Restructuring costs | 4,144 | 5,015 | ||
Miscellaneous, net | (156) | (16,821) | ||
Adjusted EBITDA | $ 75,606 | $ 91,844 | ||
5. SUPPLEMENTAL CASH FLOW INFORMATION
The following table presents additional information on certain sources and uses of cash:
Three Months Ended March 31, | ||||
(in thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | ||
Capital expenditures | $ (1,854) | $ (17,897) | ||
Interest paid | (57,867) | (67,347) | ||
Income taxes (paid) refunded | 185 | (182) | ||
Mandatory contributions to defined retirement plans | (277) | (297) | ||
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SOURCE The E.W. Scripps Company
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