TEGNA Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full-Year 2024 Results and Provides First Quarter 2025 Guidance

Achieves fourth quarter key guidance metrics and full-year 2024 capital return commitment

Reaffirms 2024/2025 two-year Adjusted Free Cash Flow guidance

TYSONS, Va., Feb. 27, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2024 ended December 31, 2024.

"As TEGNA enters its next chapter, we are reinventing how we create and monetize content to capture the full opportunity in both linear TV and digital,” said Mike Steib, CEO. "With rapid advancements in technology and a shifting regulatory landscape, we see tremendous potential in broadcasting. Backed by industry-leading brands, top talent, and a strong balance sheet, we are well-positioned to seize transformative moments in media and build a sustainable future for local news.”

FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

All Year-Over-Year Comparisons Unless Otherwise Noted:

• Total company revenue increased 20% to $871 million, primarily driven by strength in political advertising revenue, in line with our guidance range.
• Political advertising revenue totaled $187 million for the fourth quarter.
• Subscription revenue increased 5% to $357 million, primarily due to a temporary disruption with a distribution partner that began in the fourth quarter of 2023 and was successfully concluded in January 2024, distributor renewals and contractual rate increases, partially offset by subscriber declines.
• We successfully completed distributor renewals for approximately 20% of our traditional subscribers within the fourth quarter.
• AMS revenue decreased 11% to $314 million, driven primarily by political displacement and continued softness from national accounts.
• GAAP operating expenses increased 2% to $595 million and non-GAAP operating expenses¹ were $586 million due to an increase in programming expenses associated with sports rights deals, partially offset by core operational cost cutting initiatives.
• GAAP and non-GAAP operating income¹ totaled $275 million and $284 million, respectively.
• GAAP net income attributable to TEGNA Inc. was $181 million and non-GAAP net income attributable to TEGNA Inc.¹ was $198 million.
• GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share¹ were $1.11 and $1.21, respectively.
• Total company Adjusted EBITDA² increased 76% to $312 million primarily due to strength in political advertising and continued cost benefits from core operational cost cutting initiatives.
• Net cash flow from operations was $250 million and Adjusted Free Cash Flow³ was $247 million. TEGNA returned $20 million to shareholders through dividends and $50 million through share repurchases during the fourth quarter.
• Interest expense fell slightly to $43 million due to decreased undrawn fees on the company's revolving credit facility.
• Cash and cash equivalents totaled $693 million at the end of the fourth quarter. Net leverage finished the fourth quarter at 2.7x⁴.

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¹ See Table 3 for details

FULL-YEAR 2024 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS:

All Year-Over-Year Comparisons Unless Otherwise Noted:

• Total company revenue increased 7% to $3,102 million, driven by strength in political advertising revenue.
• Political advertising revenue totaled $373 million for the full year.
• Subscription revenue decreased 5% to $1,456 million, primarily due to subscriber declines partially offset by contractual rate increases.
• AMS revenue decreased 5% to $1,227 million driven by national advertising market softness and political displacement.
• GAAP operating expenses increased 6% to $2,317 million due to the absence of the $136 million merger termination fee in 2023. Non-GAAP operating expenses¹ were $2,284 million, flat to last year, due to an increase of $17 million, or 2%, in employee compensation offset by core operational cost cutting initiatives.
• GAAP and non-GAAP operating income¹ totaled $785 million and $818 million, respectively.
• GAAP net income attributable to TEGNA Inc. was $600 million and non-GAAP net income attributable to TEGNA Inc.¹ was $521 million.
• GAAP and non-GAAP earnings per diluted share¹ were $3.53 and $3.07, respectively.
• Total company Adjusted EBITDA² increased 25% to $931 million primarily due to strength in political advertising and continued cost benefits from core operational cost cutting initiatives.
• Net Cash Flow from operating activities was $685 million for the year. Adjusted Free Cash Flow³ was $688 million for 2024.
• TEGNA continued to return cash flow in our target range of 40-60% to shareholders. The Company returned $356 million of capital to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends in 2024. $275 million was returned under its share repurchase program and $81 million was returned through dividend payments.
• Interest expense fell slightly to $169 million due to decreased undrawn fees on the Company's revolving credit facility.

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² See Table 4 for details

³ See Table 5 for details

⁴ See Table 6 for details

KEY BUSINESS UPDATES:

• TEGNA announced a new multi-year agreement with FuboTV Inc. giving subscribers access to live sports telecasts from KFAA in Dallas, KONG in Seattle, and KTVD in Denver.
• TEGNA announced an exclusive distribution agreement with the WNBA's Dallas Wings to air at least 25 Wings games for free over-the-air on KFAA-TV in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
• TEGNA appointed Dhanusha Sivajee as Senior Vice President and Chief Experience Officer to lead the end-to-end journey of local community members across TEGNA's award-winning portfolio of linear, connected TV and digital experiences that reaches over 100 million people every month.
• TEGNA's Chief Growth Officer, Tom Cox, is stepping into an expanded role leading the company's long-standing station affiliation partnerships and multichannel distribution agreements.
• TEGNA has named local news veteran Adrienne Roark Chief Content Officer to drive innovation across the company's TV and digital content and serve the millions of community members who come to our platforms daily.
• TEGNA station KXTV in Sacramento, CA received a 2025 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, which honors excellence in broadcast, online and documentary journalism, for its investigation into a Sacramento charter school's questionable practices.

FULL-YEAR AND FIRST QUARTER 2025 OUTLOOK:

CONFERENCE CALL

TEGNA will host a conference call and webcast on Thursday, February 27, 2025, to discuss the Company's financial results and other business matters. The teleconference will begin at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time and will be hosted by Mike Steib, Chief Executive Officer, and Julie Heskett, Chief Financial Officer.

The conference call will be webcast through the company's website, and is open to investors, the financial community, the media and other members of the public. To access the meeting by phone, please visit investors.TEGNA.com at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time to access the links and register before the conference call begins. Once registered, phone participants will receive dial-in numbers and a unique PIN to access the call.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this 8-K earnings release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and 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. Without limitation, any statements preceded or followed by or that include the words "targets,” "plans,” "believes,” "expects,” "intends,” "will,” "likely,” "may,” "anticipates,” "estimates,” "projects,” "should,” "would,” "could,” "might,” "expect,” "positioned,” "strategy,” "future,” "potential,” "forecast,” "outlook,” or words, phrases or terms of similar substance or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. These include, but are not limited to, statements regarding TEGNA's future financial and operating results (including growth and earnings), capital allocation framework, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates reflecting the best judgment and current views, projections, estimates, expectations, plans, assumptions and beliefs about future events (in each case subject to change) of TEGNA's senior management and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which may be beyond our control that could cause actual results to differ materially from those views, projections, estimates, expectations, plans, assumptions and beliefs expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to:

• Changes in the market price of TEGNA's shares, general market conditions, constraints, volatility, or disruptions in the capital markets;
• The possibility that TEGNA's capital allocation plan, including dividends, share repurchases and/or strategic acquisitions, investments and partnerships may not enhance long-term stockholder value;
• Legal proceedings, judgments or settlements;
• TEGNA's ability to re-price or renew subscribers;
• Changes in, or failure or inability to comply with, government regulations including, without limitation, regulations of the FCC, and adverse outcomes from regulatory proceedings;
• The effects of extreme weather and climate events on our operations as well as our counterparties, customers, employees, third-party vendors and suppliers;
• Changes in technology, including changes in the distribution and viewing of television programming;
• The reaction by advertisers, programming providers, strategic partners, FCC or other government regulators to businesses that we may seek to acquire;
• The risk that we may become responsible for certain liabilities of the businesses that we may acquire;
• Future financial performance, including our ability to obtain additional financing in the future on favorable terms;
• The failure of our business to produce projected revenues or cash flows;
• Continued consolidation in the industry, including MVPDs, vMVPDs, advertising agencies and other important third parties;
• The loss of key personnel and/or talent or expenditure of a greater amount of resources attracting, retaining and motivating key personnel than in the past;
• Strikes or other union job actions that affect our operations, including, without limitation, failure to renew our collective bargaining agreements on mutually favorable terms;
• Uncertainties inherent in the development of new business lines and business strategies;
• Changes in laws or regulations under which we operate;
• Competitor responses to our products and services;
• Changes in consumer behaviors and impacts on and modifications to TEGNA's operations and business relating thereto; and
• Other economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors and risks that may affect TEGNA's operations or financial results, which are discussed in our Annual Report on Form 10-K. Any forward-looking statements in this 8-K earnings release should be evaluated in light of these important factors.

The list of factors above is illustrative, but by no means exhaustive. All forward-looking statements should be evaluated with the understanding of their inherent uncertainty. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning the matters addressed in this 8-K earnings release and attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are qualified by these cautionary statements.

Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, these expectations may not be achieved. We may change our intentions, beliefs or expectations at any time and without notice, based upon any change in our assumptions or otherwise. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) helps people thrive in their local communities by providing the trusted local news and services that matter most. Together, we are building a sustainable future for local news. With 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets, TEGNA reaches more than 100 million people on a monthly basis across the web, mobile apps, streaming, and linear television. For more information, visit TEGNA.com.