Broadcaster boosts sales

NAPLES — Beasley Broadcast Group posted revenue and profit growth in the first quarter, driven in part by its Tampa-St. Petersburg radio stations.

Beasley reported net income of $1.8 million on revenues of $27.5 million in the quarter ending March 31. That compares with net income of $1.3 million on revenues of $24.3 million in the same quarter one year ago.

Naples-based Beasley owns and operates 52 stations in 12 large- and mid-size markets in the U.S., including Tampa-St. Petersburg and Fort Myers-Naples.

“Our strong first quarter operating results highlight the solid revenue growth at the company's Tampa-St. Petersburg and Charlotte, N.C., market clusters which combined with the success of our integration and profitability initiatives generated double-digit growth in key financial metrics,” says Caroline Beasley, interim CEO, executive vice president and chief financial officer, in a statement.

The company benefited from political advertising and Beasley indicated that this trend would continue through the rest of the year culminating with the presidential election. “While 2016 first quarter revenue included the cyclical return of political advertising, we generated organic revenue growth even without the political spending,” Beasley noted in the statement.

The outlook remains positive, company officials say. “We intend to continue our use of cash from operations to further reduce debt, pay quarterly cash dividends and to pursue other opportunities to enhance shareholder value and during the first quarter declared our tenth consecutive quarterly cash dividend,” Beasley says in the statement.