Salem Media Group Releases YE 2021 Financials

Salem Media Group, one of the largest Christian broadcasters in the country, and the only one that is publicly traded, recently released its results for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021.  Below are excerpts from that release:

Quarterly Results

For the quarter ended December 31, 2021 compared to the quarter ended December 31, 2020:

• Total revenue increased 7.2% to $69.1 million from $64.5 million;
• Total operating expenses decreased 16.2% to $48.7 million from $58.1 million;
• Operating expenses, excluding gains or losses on the disposition of assets, stock-based compensation expense, changes in the estimated fair value of contingent earn-out consideration, impairments, debt modification costs, depreciation expense and amortization expense (1) increased 6.8% to $58.3 million from $54.6 million;
• Operating income increased 220.0% to $20.5 million from $6.4 million;
• The company’s net income increased $13.5 million to $16.8 million, or $0.61 net income per diluted share compared to $3.3 million, or $0.12 net income per diluted share;
• EBITDA (1) increased 131.2% to $22.7 million from $9.8 million;
• Adjusted EBITDA (1) increased 9.3% to $10.8 million from $9.9 million; and
• Net cash provided by operating activities increased to $7.7 million from net cash used for operating activities of $0.3 million.

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2021 Results

For the twelve months ended December 31, 2021 compared to the twelve months ended December 31, 2020:

• Total revenue increased 9.3% to $258.2 million from $236.2 million;
• Total operating expenses decreased 13.1% to $212.0 million from $244.0 million;
• Operating expenses, excluding gains or losses on the disposition of assets, stock-based compensation expense, changes in the estimated fair value of contingent earn-out consideration, impairments, debt modification costs, depreciation expense and amortization expense (1) increased 4.5% to $219.9 million from $210.5 million;
• Operating income increased 696.4% to $46.2 million from a loss of $7.8 million;
• The company’s net income increased to $41.5 million, or $1.52 net income per diluted share from a net loss of $54.1 million, or $2.03 net loss per share;
• EBITDA (1) increased 993.5% to $69.4 million from $6.3 million;
• Adjusted EBITDA (1) increased 48.8% to $38.3 million from $25.8 million; and
• Net cash provided by operating activities decreased 1.6% to $22.5 million from $22.9 million.

Salem owns nearly 100 Christian and conservative talk radio stations, and it syndicates programs for such conservative celebrities as Dennis Prager and Eric Metaxas.  As MinistryWatch previously reported, in May 2020 Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Salem Media Group’s “corporate family rating” and senior secured notes rating to Caa1 from B3. The future-looking outlook was also lowered from stable to negative.  According to Moody’s, any company with a “C” rating is a “poor quality and very high credit risk.”  In March 2021, Moody’s affirmed the “C” rating but changed its future outlook from negative back to stable.

On March 29, 2022, Salem Media Group (SALM) was trading at $3.64 per share.  March 11, 2021, Salem Media Group (SALM) was trading for about $3.20 per share.  In 2004 it traded for more than $30 per share.