Nexstar Broadcasting Group reported second quarter net revenue of $221.3 million, a 50.6% gain over the previous year’s second quarter. The quarter’s local revenue was up 33.4% and national grew 48.8%, for a 37.5% increase in core revenue.
“Nexstar’s consistent operating momentum and financial growth was evident again in the second quarter as we delivered another period of record financial results with profitability metrics all exceeding consensus expectations,” said Perry Sook, president and CEO. “Contributions from recently completed acquisitions combined with organic core advertising, distribution and digital media revenue growth and our focus on managing operations for current cash flow and future growth, resulted in all of our non-political revenue sources posting substantial second quarter increases.”
Digital revenue grew 60%, to $21.2 million, in the quarter, while retransmission revenue climbed 99% to $69.7 million.
Sook credited the group’s acquisitions for the growth. “Second quarter BCF, Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow increases of 45.4%, 51.0% and 64.8%, respectively, reflect the value of our initiatives to actively expand our scale through strategic, accretive acquisitions while managing costs,” he said. “The value-building accretive transactions completed in late 2014 and early 2015 added 27 stations as well as a digital media advertising and programmatic technology provider to our growth platform.”
Sook said there is plenty of room for the company to continue growing.
“Our station platform now reaches approximately 18% of all U.S. television households,” he said. “As such there remains considerable opportunity for Nexstar to further expand our platform through additional accretive station and digital media acquisitions and we remain active and engaged on this front.”
