Saga Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGA) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Saga Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGA) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript November 5, 2023

Operator: Good day, and welcome to the Saga Communications Inc. Third Quarter Earnings Release and Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Chris Forgy, President and CEO. Sir, the floor is yours.

Chris Forgy: Thank you, Paul, and thanks to all of you who have taken the time to join Saga's Q3 earnings call. We appreciate your continued interest and participation in Saga Communications. We've got a lot to talk about today. For starters, we're pleased to report the addition of our people, resources, and renewed focus in specific opportunistic growth areas, is starting to impact our revenue in a real positive way. I’m pretty certain you won't hear some of these things on other earnings calls you might be participating in over the next few days. For the quarter, National was up 1%. This is in a sector that's down in national business double digits amongst our brethren. Digital was up 34% for the quarter and continues to grow with a great deal of headroom, and we do it differently than most.

A close up of a television broadcasting a popular show produced by the company.

And finally, NTR, the selling of events, is up 7.7 points for the quarter. And year-to-date, National is up, ready for this, 6.9%. Interactive is up 21%, and NTR, or the selling of events, is up 11.1%. Our other areas of focus, e-commerce, which is the selling of certificates, over the past trailing 12 months has totaled $1.3 million and is still growing. We are still in the process of deploying our online news and information service in several of our Saga markets, and have multiple markets in queue for installation this year and next. You may also refer to this or be familiar with this as metaphorically ClarksvilleNOW. We also continue to perform really well in targeted categories. Number one category continues to be home improvement, which includes HVAC, plumbing, roofing, insulation, and invisible fence companies, and things like that.

And that, too, is still growing. Automotive has made a surge and moves into our number two category business, and professional services has moved to number three, which is things like aesthetic plastic surgery, cosmetic dentistry, and weight loss. So, Sam, I think they called out a tease on the air when our on-air personalities, just give a little look inside. So, I'm going to send it back to Sam for some more performance news.

Sam Bush: Thank you, Chris, and that tease was very nicely done. Now, I do have to read the obligatory. This call will contain forward-looking statements about our future performance and results of operations that involve risks and uncertainties that are described in the Risk Factors section of our most recent Form 10-K. This call will also contain a discussion of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation for all the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure are attached in the selected financial data tables to our press release. So, now the fun part. For the quarter ended September 30, 2023, net revenue decreased 2.8% to $29.2 million, compared to $30 million last year. Political certainly impacted this year's performance.

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