Despite what you may have read in a misleading headline and poorly phrased column at Inside Radio, Audacy did NOT announce it is selling stations in Boston and Phoenix.
In its quarterly financial filing with the SEC, Audacy noted that it had entered into letters of intent to sell certain assets located in Phoenix and Boston for approximately $2.5 million stating, “The Company conducted an analysis and determined the assets met the criteria to be classified as held for sale at June 30, 2023. In aggregate, these assets have a carrying value of approximately $2.5 million. The transactions are expected to close within one year.”
The breakdown specifically notes that NO station licenses are included in the sale with valuations broken down as the land being valued at $590,000, buildings at $1,776,000, and equipment for $110,000 for a net value of $2,476,000.
Audacy owns its studio buildings in both markets, but they are both assessed at values much higher than $2.5 million. When we first broke the story of Audacy’s Audacy Atlas LLC divestment holding company in February, we noted that the Needham MA tower site of 850 WEEI was included. Audacy has no other tower holdings in Boston, but it does have one in Phoenix as the company owns the tower on South Mountain that is home to their CHR “Live 101.5” KALV-FM as well as Hubbard Classic Rock 100.7 KSLX.
The bigger story from the SEC filing is that the company states that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern within twelve months.
Audacy states, “Current macroeconomic conditions have created, and continue to create, significant uncertainty in operations, including rising inflation and interest rates, significant volatility in financial markets, decreases in advertising revenue, and increased competition for advertising expenditures, which have had, and are expected to continue to have, a material adverse effect on the Company’s forecasted revenue. As a result, management continues to execute on cash management and strategic operational plans to manage liquidity and debt covenant compliance, including evaluating contractual obligations and workforce reductions, managing operating expenses, divesting non-strategic assets of the Company, and initiating a variety of transactions to manage the Company’s liabilities, which could include extending maturities or otherwise reorganizing the Company’s debt to decrease overall leverage. The Company is unable to predict with certainty the impact that the current macroeconomic conditions will have on its ability to consummate these transactions or maintain compliance with the financial covenants contained in the Company’s debt agreements.”
Should Audacy fail to maintain compliance with its financial covenants in their debt agreements it would cause them to be in default and could cause the maturity of the related debt to be accelerated and become immediately payable leading to the company seeking bankruptcy protection. Audacy states it has $926.4 million of debt set to mature in July 2024 with a $227.3 million revolver loan maturing in August 2024 and a term B-2 loan in November 2024. Audacy currently has $80.7 million in cash on hand for operations.
