Gray Television today announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2022, reflecting revenue above our guidance and expenses near the low end of our guidance for the quarter. Overall, the fourth quarter of 2022 produced record results, including $1.1 billion in total revenue, due to the combination of recent acquisitions, added scale, increasingly efficient integrated operations, and the “on-year” of the two-year political advertising cycle.
Moreover, compared to the fourth quarter of 2018, the last mid-term election year, our political advertising revenue of $255 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 grew by 207% on an As-Reported Basis (as defined below) and by 24% on a Combined Historical Basis (as defined below). For the full year 2022, our political advertising revenue was $515 million, which exceeded 2018’s political advertising revenue by 232% on an As-Reported Basis and by 38% on a Combined Historical Basis. Our strong cash flow in the fourth quarter of 2022 enabled us to return a total of $174 million of capital to our shareholders during the fourth quarter, including: two voluntary debt principal pre-payments totaling $150 million under our 2017 Term Loan B (due 2024); a required principal payment of $4 million under our 2021 Term Loan D (due 2028); and $20 million of cash dividends to our preferred and common shareholders.
As part of our strong commitment to strengthen our balance sheet, as described below, we currently intend to fully pre-pay the remaining $295 million principal balance on our Term Loan B on March 1, 2023, and we have undertaken efforts to cap the interest rate on our floating rate debt, as described below. Despite concerns about a possible macroeconomic recession discussed publicly in the general media and by certain sectors of the economy, we believe that our businesses performed well throughout last year and have started 2023 in a strong position. Most notably, on a Combined Historical Basis, our…
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