iHM: 1Q Radio Revenue Increased 1.5 Percent

iHeartMedia Inc. on Thursday filed a preliminary first-quarter earnings report showing a decline in revenue from the same quarter in 2016, according to mysantonio.com.

Revenue fell 2.4 percent to $1.33 billion, compared with $1.36 billion in the first quarter last year, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

But the 2016 results included $40.6 million generated by selling some of its U.S. billboards, according to a Debtwire analyst report. In addition, 2017 results were weighed down by a charge of $12.8 million tied to foreign exchange rate changes, said the report by the corporate debt research firm based in New York.

Without those, net revenue for the radio and billboard giant would have increased 1.6 percent on a year-over-year basis, Debtwire senior credit analyst Seth Crystall said.

The quarterly report comes amid a massive $14.6 billion debt-exchange offer to lenders and bondholders that is intended to give the company more time to repay its debt. iHeartMedia has more than $21 billion in debt, $16.5 billion held by the radio portion of the company and $5 billion by the billboard subsidiary.

The SEC filing shows that the radio portion of iHeartMedia generated $784.6 million in the first quarter, a 1.5 percent increase from the year-ago period.

The preliminary report’s numbers could change when the company issues its formal first-quarter earnings report. A date for iHeartMedia’s first-quarter report has not been announced.

The company’s lenders and bondholders have been watching the company’s operating performance as loans and bonds mature.

iHeartMedia has $317 million in debt obligations maturing this year and $324 million in 2018, but $8.4 billion due in 2019. As of March 31, iHeartMedia had $365 million in cash, $201 million of that held by the billboard subsidiary, according to Debtwire.