AMC Networks fell short of Wall Street analysts’ forecasts with a set of first-quarter financial results reflecting the company’s ongoing struggles with advertising.
Revenue fell 17% from the year-ago quarter to $596 million, though the company noted that Excluding nonrecurring revenues related to Silo and 25/7 Media, net revenues would have declined 6%. Earnings per share fell by more than half, settling at $1.16 on an adjusted basis.
Advertising revenues decreased 13% to $140 million, with the company citing a downturn in linear ratings and a challenging ad market. Affiliate revenues decreased 14%, which the company blamed on “basic subscriber declines.”
Content licensing revenues decreased 40% to $62 million due to the availability of deliveries in the period. The year-earlier period included deliveries of Silo, an AMC Studios series made for Apple TV+. Excluding revenues related to Silo, content licensing revenues increased 31%.
Streaming was something of a bright spot, with revenues of $145 million climbing 3% as total subscribers increased 2% to 11.5 million. Free cash flow swung from negative $144 million a year ago to $144.1 million in the first quarter.
“In the first quarter, we continued to execute on our strategic priorities, including the ongoing delivery of healthy free cash flow,” CEO Kristin Dolan said in the earnings release. “As new technologies transform the way media is consumed, we continue to produce great content and make it available to viewers whenever and wherever they want to watch. We recently strengthened our balance sheet by completing a series of financing transactions that meaningfully extended our debt maturities. This creates substantial flexibility for us as we continue to leverage our core strengths and reorient our business around the consumer-driven changes that are happening across the industry.”
