By David Farrell
Stingray revenues balloon following broadcast acquisition
Montreal media company Stingray Digital announced its financial results Friday for its Q3 ended December 31, 2018
Below are highlights from the earnings report.
•Revenues increased 101.6% to $70.8 million following the Newfoundland Capital Corporation Inc. (“NCC”) acquisition
•Recurring Broadcasting and Commercial Music revenues(1) of $33.4 million, an increase of 15.9%
•Radio accounted for 44.1% of total revenues at $31.2 million
•Subscription video on demand (“SVOD”) subscribers reached 356,000 subscribers in Q3, representing a 25% increase in monthly revenues over the last quarter
•Adjusted EBITDA(2) up 144.1% to $27.2 million
•Net loss of $18.1 million or $(0.26) per share (diluted) compared to a net income of $0.7 million or $0.01 per share (diluted) last year mainly attributable to the non-recurring expenses totaling $35.3 million related to the CRTC Tangible benefits expense and acquisition costs related to the NCC transaction
advertisement•Adjusted Net income(3) up 106.1% to $12.4 million or $0.18 per share (diluted) compared to last year
•Cash flow from operating activities increased to $9.2 million
•Adjusted free cash flow(4) of $16.0 million, an increase of 99.4%
•Dividend increased by 8.3% to $0.065 per share
Reminder: Noms open for CMW Music & Broadcast Awards
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The Canadian Press cuts jobs resulting from falling revenues
The Canadian Press is cutting six editorial positions, in a move the company said is prompted by a decline in its subscription revenue. Most of the journalists affected work in the news agency's Atlantic bureau in Halifax.
In a statement to employees, Canadian Press president Malcolm Kirk cited "tremendous disruption to traditional business models," which has caused a decline in the advertising revenues of the news outlets that pay for Canadian Press services. – CBC News
German regulators just outlawed Facebook’s entire ad business
Privacy advocates have argued that the company isn’t transparent enough about what data it has and what it does with it. As a result, most people don’t understand the massive trade-off they are making with their information when they sign up for the “free” site.
On Thursday, Germany’s Federal Cartel Office, the country’s antitrust regulator, ruled that Facebook was exploiting consumers by requiring them to agree to this kind of data collection in order to have an account, and has prohibited the practice going forward. – Emily Dreyfuss, Wired
Netflix posts highest profit ever and paid $0 in taxes
The popular video streaming service Netflix posted its largest-ever U.S. profit in 2018—$845 million—on which it didn’t pay a dime in federal or state income taxes. In fact, the company reported a $22 million federal tax rebate. – Institute of Taxation & Economic Policy
Rogers Stadium during a rainy walkthrough in 2025.Courtesy Photo