TEGNA Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2023 Results and Provides Business Update

Reports full-year 2023 results which met or exceeded all full-year 2023 guidance metrics

Provides full-year 2024 outlook and free cash flow guidance for 2024-2025

Plans to return 40-60% of 2024-2025 free cash flow to shareholders through new capital allocation framework; represents an expected return of capital of $1.3 billion from the date of merger termination through 2025, with $350 million commitment in 2024

Received $153 million of pre-tax cash proceeds from the sale of ownership interest in BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.)

Board authorizes new two-year $650 million share repurchase to capitalize on industry-leading balance sheet and leverage position

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2023.

FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS¹:

• Total company revenue was $726 million in the fourth quarter, down 21 percent year-over-year, primarily due to the reduction of political revenue from the mid-term election cycle last year.
  • Total company revenue was down six percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 due to macroeconomic headwinds in Advertising and Marketing Services ("AMS") revenue.
• Subscription revenue was $339 million in the fourth quarter, down nine percent year-over-year, primarily due to the temporary disruption of service with a distribution partner, which was successfully resolved on January 13, 2024.
  • Excluding the service disruption, subscription revenue would have been nearly flat year-over-year driven by subscriber attrition and partially offset by contractual rate increases. Since our third quarter earnings release on November 7, 2023, TEGNA has renewed multiple comprehensive retransmission consent agreements representing approximately 30 percent of our traditional subscribers.
• AMS revenue was $352 million in the fourth quarter, in-line with the prior year. Underlying advertising trends were up four percent year-over-year, adjusting for the loss of a single national Premion account in the same quarter of last year.
  • Advertising trends in the fourth quarter showed sequential improvement compared to the third quarter based on easier comparisons with political crowd out last year resulting in continued sequential improvement throughout 2023. Nearly all categories of underlying advertising trends were positive in the fourth quarter.

• GAAP operating expenses were $582 million, down one percent year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating expenses² of $577 million finished down two percent year-over-year due to lower non-programming expenses.
  • Non-GAAP expenses less programming decreased four percent from the fourth quarter of 2022 driven by lower variable cost of sales for digital revenue, and operating expense improvements.
• GAAP and non-GAAP operating income totaled $144 million and $149 million, respectively.
• Interest expense was flat year-over-year at $44 million due to our attractively priced fixed-rate debt, with no near-term maturities until 2026.
• TEGNA achieved net income of $76 million on a GAAP basis, or $81 million on a non-GAAP basis.
• GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $0.40 and $0.43, respectively.
• Total company Adjusted EBITDA³ was $177 million, representing a decrease of 51 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, as expected, due to the absence of high-margin political revenue from mid-term elections and the disruption of service with a distributor.
  • Fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA was down 28 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2021 reflecting lower high-margin AMS and political revenue and higher programming expenses.
• Free cash flow⁴ was $130 million for the quarter.
  • For the trailing two-year period ending December 31, 2023, free cash flow as a percentage of revenue was 20.3 percent.
• Cash and cash equivalents totaled $361 million at the end of the quarter. Net leverage⁵ finished the year at 2.8x, below full-year guidance of 3.0x.

FULL-YEAR FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

• Total company revenue was $2.9 billion, down 11 percent year-over-year, due to a reduction in political revenue from the mid-term election cycle last year. In addition, the absence of Winter Olympics and Super Bowl airing on NBC in 2022, our largest affiliate portfolio, compared to FOX in 2023, our smallest portfolio, also contributed to the less favorable even-to-odd year comparisons.
  • Compared to 2021, total company revenue was down three percent primarily due to lower AMS revenue, partially offset by higher subscription revenue.
• Subscription revenue of $1.5 billion was in-line with the prior year, driven by rate increases, which were offset by subscriber declines as well as the temporary disruption of service with a distribution partner. Excluding the service disruption, subscription revenue would have been up two percent compared to last year.
• AMS revenue was $1.3 billion, down five percent year-over-year driven by macroeconomic headwinds and the loss of a national Premion account. Underlying advertising trends were down two percent year-over-year, adjusting for the Winter Olympics, Super Bowl, and loss of the national Premion account. Automotive and Services, our two largest advertising categories generated strong growth throughout 2023.
• GAAP operating expenses of $2.2 billion were down five percent. Non-GAAP operating expenses² of $2.3 billion were up one percent year-over-year driven by higher programming costs, partially offset by lower non-programming expenses.
  • Non-GAAP expenses less programming decreased two percent compared to last year due to lower variable cost of sales for digital revenue, and operational expense management improvements.
• TEGNA achieved net income of $476 million on a GAAP basis, or $363 million on a non-GAAP basis.
• GAAP earnings per diluted share were $2.28 and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share were $1.74.
• Total company Adjusted EBITDA³ of $742 million was down 34 percent year-over-year, primarily due to reduction of high-margin political and AMS revenues coupled with higher programming costs.
  • Compared to 2021, Adjusted EBITDA was down 22 percent driven by higher programming costs as well as macroeconomic headwinds resulting in lower high-margin advertising revenue.

FREE CASH FLOW GUIDANCE THROUGH 2024-2025

Based on management's current expectations and following affiliation renewal agreements with NBC and ABC, as well as retransmission consent agreements repricing 30 percent of traditional subscribers, the Company expects to generate free cash flow in the range of $900 million - $1.1 billion during the 2024-2025 period.

TEGNA's free cash flow guidance includes the impact of transformation initiatives to streamline operations, pursue innovation-driven opportunities, and achieve cost reductions. TEGNA expects to complete these transformation initiatives through 2025, with initial benefits expected to occur in the second half of 2024. TEGNA will provide additional updates on its business transformation initiatives over the coming quarters.

CAPITAL ALLOCATION FRAMEWORK

TEGNA's Board of Directors has approved a comprehensive capital allocation framework to support shareholder value creation that includes a predictable and sustained distribution of free cash flow to shareholders. As part of this framework, the Company expects to return 40-60 percent of its free cash flow generated in 2024-2025 to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends, with the remaining free cash flow expected to be used for organic investments and/or bolt-on acquisitions and preparing for future debt retirement. TEGNA will analyze all uses of capital, including regularly evaluating the dividend rate, with a goal of maximizing long-term shareholder value creation.

In December 2023, TEGNA's Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program for up to $650 million of our common stock. This new share repurchase program expires on December 31, 2025.

TEGNA's new capital allocation framework builds on the Company's previous actions of returning capital to shareholders, with nearly $800 million in share repurchases and a 20 percent dividend increase in 2023. Previously announced share repurchase commitments resulted in the repurchase of approximately 50 million shares through the end of February 2024 (as of December 31, 2023, TEGNA had repurchased a total of 45.9 million shares), which is approximately 22 percent of shares outstanding prior to these actions. TEGNA expects to return approximately $350 million of capital to shareholders in 2024 through dividends and opportunistic purchases from time to time on the open market at prevailing prices or in negotiated transactions. This initiative is in addition to the previously announced accelerated share repurchase ("ASR") program that completed in February 2024.

PROCEEDS FROM OWNERSHIP INTEREST IN BMI

On February 8, 2024, the sale of BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) to a shareholder group led by New Mountain Capital, LLC closed. TEGNA has received approximately $153 million in pre-tax cash proceeds for its interest in the entity. Proceeds from the sale will be included in the newly announced return of capital to shareholders and/or the pursuit of bolt-on M&A as seen with Premion's recent acquisition of Octillion Media.

CEO COMMENT

"TEGNA is back on offense, operating from a position of strength. Our new capital allocation framework positions us well to execute our business strategy to drive shareholder value in a continually evolving media landscape," said Dave Lougee, president and chief executive officer. "Our announcement today to return 40-to-60 percent of free cash flow to shareholders over the next two years builds on our initial capital return commitment of nearly $800 million over the last nine months. Based on our free cash flow guidance and capital allocation framework, we expect to return approximately $1.3 billion to shareholders since the merger termination through 2025. Importantly, this new framework maintains our flexibility to pursue organic investments, bolt-on M&A, and prepare for long range debt maturities.

"Our successful extension of TEGNA's affiliation agreements with NBC and ABC, as well as completed renegotiation of retransmission agreements for approximately 30 percent of our traditional subscribers, provides visibility into TEGNA's revenues and free cash flow. 93 percent of our Big 4 network subscribers are now under network agreements through late 2026 or longer. The majority of these subscribers are tied to a variable payment model when it comes to our reverse compensation payments, tying payments to subscriber counts. Our high-margin, recurring revenues from subscription and political advertising drive confidence in our outlook, as demonstrated by our multi-year free cash flow guidance announced today.

"We're also building on our culture of innovation and operational excellence in transforming our core business. We are leveraging our scale and embracing new technologies to drive new efficiencies across our company, providing further financial flexibility. These efforts are well underway and will be expanded in the coming months with benefits expected in the second half of 2024 and growing over time.

"TEGNA's momentum continues to build following our comprehensive capital allocation review, and we are pleased with our progress in advancing our strategic and financial priorities. The recently announced acquisition of Octillion Media will further reinforce Premion's industry-leading position through the integration of Octillion's cutting-edge technology and platform into Premion's business, and is expected to generate compelling returns for our shareholders over time. Our recent strategic investment in 6AM City will enhance the distribution of our local content and provide a platform for further local content innovation. TEGNA's receipt of proceeds from the sale of BMI further strengthens our financial flexibility. Looking ahead, TEGNA continues to be well positioned to invest in accretive opportunities to expand and diversify our business, while retaining our industry-leading balance sheet with net leverage of less than 3.0x.

"We are pleased to have met or exceeded all of our full-year 2023 annual guidance metrics. In the fourth quarter, Advertising and Marketing Services revenue continued to see sequential improvement, driven by improving trends in automotive and services, our two largest advertising categories. Automotive has steadily recovered and is generating strong year-over-year growth for the sixth consecutive quarter. We expect 2024 to be another strong year driven by our portfolio of stations in key markets benefiting from a presidential election cycle, the Summer Olympic Games, and this month's Super Bowl.

"All of our work is driven by TEGNA's purpose of serving the greater good of our communities. Our 2023 Impact Report outlines our recent achievements and commitments across our sustainability focus areas. We continued to make progress on further embedding equity and inclusion as a cultural and business imperative at TEGNA that enables us to authentically represent the experiences and perspectives of all our audiences and fosters trust. Investing in our people and their well-being, both professionally and personally, is another strategic priority for us. We continue to foster a workplace conducive to open dialogue, where support resources are easily accessible, and avenues for professional development are available."

FULL-YEAR AND FIRST QUARTER 2024 OUTLOOK

KEY STRATEGIC UPDATES

• TEGNA Amends and Extends Credit Facility Agreement – In January, TEGNA closed on its new $750 million, five-year amended credit agreement, the largest facility among its comparable peers, securing additional capacity to support strategic objectives. There are currently no drawings under this facility.
• TEGNA and NBC Renew Multi-Year Affiliation Agreement – In January, TEGNA and NBC announced a comprehensive, multi-year deal that renewed station affiliation agreements for 20 TEGNA markets nationwide, including 10 of the top 25 markets for NBC. TEGNA is the largest independent owner of NBC affiliates. The 20 markets renewed cover more than 21 million households, nearly 17% of U.S. TV households. (Press Release)
• Premion Acquires Next-Generation Demand-Side Platform Octillion Media – In February, Premion announced the acquisition of Octillion Media, a proven, purpose-built local Connected TV (CTV) platform, to expand its capabilities in the growing CTV and over-the-top marketplace to further enable product innovation, improve operational efficiencies and drive accelerated growth in serving local and regional advertisers. (Press Release)
• TEGNA Makes Strategic Investment in 6AM City – In February, TEGNA closed on a strategic investment in 6AM City, a local media brand that sends daily newsletters across 26 different markets. 6AM City will be including news and weather from TEGNA stations in their product, as well as promoting stations' morning newscasts and integrating headlines from Locked On. TEGNA content will be included in two additional markets that 6AM City intends to launch.
• TEGNA's WFAA Teams-Up with Dallas Mavericks for 10 Games – WFAA, TEGNA's Dallas-Fort Worth ABC affiliate, has partnered with the Dallas Mavericks to bring 10 additional games to the WFAA broadcast schedule. Games will be available to three million households and more than seven million people in North Texas through WFAA's free over-the-air broadcasts and through WFAA's broadcast distribution with cable, satellite, and streaming services. (Press release)
• KUSA and KVUE Receive Prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards – The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards honor excellence in broadcast, online and documentary journalism. KUSA (Denver, Colo.) was honored for "BURNED," a year-long project to document the devastating 2021 Marshall Fire in Boulder County. KVUE (Austin, Texas) was honored for "Accountability After Uvalde," which revealed the failures of law enforcement in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. (Press release)

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This communication includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. When used in this communication, the words "believes," "estimates," "plans," "expects," "should," "could," "outlook," and "anticipates" and similar expressions as they relate to the Company or its financial results are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this communication may include, without limitation, statements regarding anticipated growth rates, the Company's capital allocation framework, and the Company's other plans, objectives and expectations. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions about future events and are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the views, beliefs, projections and estimates expressed in such statements, many of which are outside the Company's control. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: changes in the market price of the Company's shares, general market conditions, constraints, volatility, or disruptions in the capital markets; the possibility that the Company's share repurchases, and the execution of the capital allocation framework may not enhance long-term stockholder value; the possibility that share repurchases could increase the volatility of the price of the Company's common stock; legal proceedings, judgments or settlements; the response of customers, suppliers and business partners to the Company's plans, operations and business as a stand-alone company; the Company's ability to re-price or renew subscribers; potential regulatory actions; changes in consumer behaviors and impacts on and modifications to TEGNA's operations and business relating thereto; and economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors and risks that may affect the Company's operations or financial results, which are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Any forward-looking statements in this communication should be evaluated in light of these important risk factors. The Company is not responsible for updating the information contained in this communication beyond the published date, or for changes made to this press release by wire services, Internet service providers or other media.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the Company. Each such statement speaks only as of the day it was made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or to revise any forward-looking statements.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE:TGNA) is an innovative media company that serves the greater good of our communities. Across platforms, TEGNA tells empowering stories, conducts impactful investigations and delivers innovative marketing solutions. With 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets, TEGNA is the largest owner of top 4 network affiliates in the top 25 markets among independent station groups, reaching approximately 39 percent of all television households nationwide. TEGNA also owns leading multicast networks True Crime Network and Quest. TEGNA offers innovative solutions to help businesses reach consumers across television, digital and over-the-top (OTT) platforms, including Premion, TEGNA's OTT advertising service. For more information, visit www.TEGNA.com.

USE OF NON-GAAP INFORMATION

The company uses non-GAAP financial performance measures to supplement the financial information presented on a GAAP basis. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, the related GAAP measures, nor should they be considered superior to the related GAAP measures, and should be read together with financial information presented on a GAAP basis. Also, our non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other companies.

Management and the company's Board of Directors use non-GAAP financial measures for purposes of evaluating company performance. Furthermore, the Leadership Development and Compensation Committee of our Board of Directors uses non-GAAP measures such as Adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP EPS and free cash flow to evaluate management's performance. The company, therefore, believes that each of the non-GAAP measures presented provides useful information to investors and other stakeholders by allowing them to view our business through the eyes of management and our Board of Directors, facilitating comparisons of results across historical periods and focus on the underlying ongoing operating performance of our business. The company also believes these non-GAAP measures are frequently used by investors, securities analysts and other interested parties in their evaluation of our business and other companies in the broadcast industry.

The company discusses in this release non-GAAP financial performance measures that exclude from its reported GAAP results the impact of "special items" consisting of asset impairment and other, M&A-related costs, Merger termination fee, retention costs, gains on an available for sale investment and on an equity investment that we sold a portion of and an impairment charge recorded for another investment. In addition, we have excluded certain income tax special items associated with a valuation allowance on a deferred tax asset related to an equity method investment and a tax benefit associated with previously disallowed transaction costs.

The company believes that such expenses and gains are not indicative of normal, ongoing operations. While these items should not be disregarded in evaluation of our earnings performance, it is useful to exclude such items when analyzing current results and trends compared to other periods as these items can vary significantly from period to period depending on specific underlying transactions or events that may occur. Therefore, while we may incur or recognize these types of expenses, charges and gains in the future, the company believes that removing these items for purposes of calculating the non-GAAP financial measures provides investors with a more focused presentation of our ongoing operating performance.

The company also discusses Adjusted EBITDA (with and without stock-based compensation expenses), a non-GAAP financial performance measure that it believes offers a useful view of the overall operation of its businesses. The company defines Adjusted EBITDA as net income attributable to TEGNA before (1) net (loss) income attributable to redeemable noncontrolling interest, (2) income taxes, (3) interest expense, (4) interest income, (5) equity loss in unconsolidated investments, net, (6) other non-operating items, net, (7) the Merger termination fee, (8) M&A-related costs, (9) advisory fees related to activism defense, (10) asset impairment and other, (11) employee retention costs, (12) depreciation and (13) amortization of intangible assets. The company believes these adjustments facilitate company-to-company operating performance comparisons by removing potential differences caused by variations unrelated to operating performance, such as capital structures (interest expense), income taxes, and the age and book appreciation of property and equipment (and related depreciation expense). The most directly comparable GAAP financial measure to Adjusted EBITDA is Net income attributable to TEGNA. Users should consider the limitations of using Adjusted EBITDA, including the fact that this measure does not provide a complete measure of our operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to purport to be an alternate to net income as a measure of operating performance or to cash flows from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. In particular, Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be a measure of cash flow available for management's discretionary expenditures, as this measure does not consider certain cash requirements, such as working capital needs, capital expenditures, contractual commitments, interest payments, tax payments and other debt service requirements.

This earnings release also discusses free cash flow, a non-GAAP performance measure that the Board of Directors uses to review the performance of the business. Free cash flow is reviewed by the Board of Directors as a percentage of revenue over a trailing two-year period (reflecting both an even and odd year reporting period given the political cyclicality of the business). The most directly comparable GAAP financial measure to free cash flow is Net income attributable to TEGNA. Free cash flow is calculated as Adjusted EBITDA (as defined above), further adjusted by adding back (1) employee awards stock-based compensation, (2) Company stock 401(k) match contributions, (3) syndicated programming amortization, (4) dividends received from equity method investments, (5) reimbursements from spectrum repacking, (6) proceeds from company-owned life insurance policies and (7) interest income. This is further adjusted by deducting payments made for (1) syndicated programming, (2) pension, (3) interest, (4) taxes (net of refunds) and (5) purchases of property and equipment. Like Adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow is not intended to be a measure of cash flow available for management's discretionary use.

This earnings release also presents our net leverage ratio which includes Adjusted EBITDA (without stock-based compensation) as a component of the computation. Our net leverage ratio is a financial measure that is used by management to assess the borrowing capacity of the company and management believes it is useful to investors for the same reason. The company defines its Net Leverage Ratio as (a) net debt (total debt less cash and cash equivalents) as of the balance sheet date divided by (b) Average Annual Adjusted EBITDA for the trailing two-year period.

The company is furnishing forward-looking guidance with respect to free cash flow for the combined 2024-25 years, net leverage and corporate expenses for fiscal year 2024 and non-GAAP operating expenses for the first quarter of 2024. Our future GAAP financial results will include the impact of special items such as retention costs including stock-based compensation and cash payments. The company believes that such expenses are not indicative of normal, ongoing operations. While these items should not be disregarded in evaluation of our earnings performance, it is useful to exclude such items when analyzing current results and trends compared to other periods. Therefore, while we may incur or recognize these types of expenses in the future, the company believes that removing these items for purposes of calculating the non-GAAP financial measures provides investors with a more focused presentation of our ongoing operating performance.

The Company is not able to reconcile these amounts to their comparable GAAP financial measures without unreasonable efforts because certain information necessary to calculate such measures on a GAAP basis is unavailable, dependent on future events outside of our control and cannot be predicted. An example of such information is share-based compensation, which is impacted by future share price movement in the Company's stock price and also dependent on future hiring and attrition. In addition, the Company believes such reconciliations could imply a degree of precision that might be confusing or misleading to investors. The actual effect of the reconciling items that the Company may exclude from these non-GAAP expense numbers, when determined, may be significant to the calculation of the comparable GAAP measures.