By E.W. Scripps, a local TV broadcaster, has reported lower revenue and a significant impairment charge in the second quarter due to the prolonged advertising market downturn. The company posted a loss of $682.4 million, or $8.10 per share, compared to a profit of $29.2 million, or 32 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.
The loss includes an impairment charge of $8.01 per share to reduce the carrying value of goodwill in the company’s networks business. Excluding this charge, the loss would have been 9 cents per share, slightly better than the consensus estimate of 11 cents per share by analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue also declined by 2% to $582.8 million, but still surpassed expectations of $575.8 million. This decrease was primarily driven by a 5.2% decline in core advertising revenue in E.W. Scripps’ local media business. However, distribution revenue in this segment saw a 14% increase.
The company cited the decrease in political revenue from the previous year as one of the factors negatively impacting segment revenue. This decline is typical for a non-election year.
E.W. Scripps attributed its decision to book the impairment charge to a longer-than-expected advertising recession and overall macroeconomic headwinds.
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