Emmis Announces First Quarter Earnings
Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: EMMS) is reporting fiscal first quarter net income of $1.7 million, compared to $23.5 million during the same period last year. The company says radio net revenues were flat for the quarter.
The results come more than a week after Emmis detailed plans to form a new public company, Mediaco Holding, as part of an agreement with New York-based investment firm Standard General.
Emmis also announced an agreement this quarter to sell its controlling interest in a partnership that owns and operates six Austin radio stations and two FM translators to Sinclair Telecable Inc.
Following the close of these transactions, Emmis expects to have approximately $88 million of cash available for reinvestment and other corporate purposes, after settling all tax obligations, closing costs, and assuming $13 million remains outstanding under the mortgage on its corporate headquarters.
“In the past 14 years, we’ve paid off more than $1.3 billion of debt while making the conscious decision to take our entrepreneurial skills and transition Emmis into new areas of growth. We believe that this fiscal year will reveal a new Emmis, and I couldn’t be more excited,” Jeff Smulyan, chief executive officer and chairman of the Board of Emmis said in a news release.