Nexstar Reports Record First Quarter Net Revenue

• Net Revenue Drives 1Q Operating Income of $284.9 Million, Net Income of $199.2 Million, Adjusted EBITDA of $571.4 Million and Free Cash Flow of $483.5 Million
• Allocated $75 Million Toward Leverage Reduction, Repurchased $121 Million of Class A Common Shares and Returned $30.4 Million to Shareholders in Dividends in the First Quarter

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2021.

Perry A. Sook, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nexstar Media Group commented, “Nexstar generated record first quarter financial results across key financial and cash flow metrics, outperforming consensus expectations and marking continued operating momentum and an exceptionally strong start to the year. 

"Record first quarter net revenue reflects double-digit growth in digital and distribution revenue and Nexstar’s ability to drive recovery in core advertising, which more than offset the year-over-year reduction in political spending. Top-line growth combined with our ongoing expense management disciplines and the cash distribution from our 31.3% ownership stake in TV Food Network, resulted in record first quarter Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, before one-time transaction expenses, of $572.6 million and $484.6 million, respectively. Nexstar’s industry-leading free cash flow generation is providing us with the flexibility to continue investing in our local media platform while driving growing shareholder returns. Reflecting our capital allocation priorities and long-standing commitment to enhancing shareholder value, in the first quarter we allocated $75 million toward leverage reduction, returned approximately $30.4 million to shareholders through our recently upsized quarterly cash dividend, and repurchased $121 million of our Class A common shares, reducing our outstanding share count to approximately 43 million shares.

Perry Snook

“Overall, our record first quarter results continue to highlight the strength of our assets and operations, the resiliency of our business model, and the value of our enterprise-wide focus on managing operations for current and future cash flow. With operating momentum continuing in the second quarter across our businesses, we expect to generate year-over-year growth across all of our non-political revenue sources throughout 2021, as the vaccine rollout progresses and economic conditions continue to improve. As a result, we remain confident in our ability to meet or exceed our pro-forma average annual free cash flow guidance of approximately $1.27 billion over the 2021/2022 cycle.

“Nexstar generated first quarter net revenue of $1.1 billion, representing a 2% increase over the prior year, as the ongoing execution of our strategies to leverage our local content and diversify our revenue sources more than offset the approximate $50 million year-over-year decline in political advertising. Total television advertising revenue, excluding political, decreased just 1.4% versus the comparable year-ago period, outpacing expectations and reflecting growing demand for our premium local and national marketing solutions. In addition, Nexstar’s local sales initiatives continue to deliver healthy levels of new business with our sales teams generating $27.8 million of first quarter new-to-television revenue, marking a 149% increase over the prior year. We previously disclosed that we expected the 2021 first quarter to be our most challenging core revenue comparison for the year given our significant outperformance in the year-ago period prior to the pandemic impact in the last three weeks of March 2020. We are extremely proud of the success of our sales teams for delivering solid first quarter core advertising results.

“As the largest broadcast television group in the United States, we are seeing some clear differences in terms of the pace of recovery in core advertising by geographic region and reopening stage. Looking ahead, we are encouraged by the overall acceleration in economic activity and the improved trajectory of ad spending across our footprint as market conditions continue to improve. As a result, we expect core advertising to return to growth over the prior year beginning in the second quarter of 2021.