Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NXST) Q3 2020 Earnings Call Transcript @themotleyfool #stocks $NXST
Third quarter station SG&A was approximately $187 million, inclusive of the Tribune operations. Same-station pro forma fixed expenses, excluding programming expenses, were down 14% over the prior year due to the synergies realized from the Tribune acquisition and the previously mentioned expense reduction activities in response to the pandemic. Corporate expense was $39.7 million, inclusive of $12.4 million of stock-based compensation. And as previously mentioned, there were approximately $17.3 million of onetime transaction expenses during the quarter. Third quarter operating cash taxes were $136.6 million, reflecting the previously disclosed shift of some tax expenses from Q2 to Q3. Ongoing capex and transaction capex totaled approximately $34.2 million, Spectrum repack capex totaled approximately $19.4 million, and we received approximately $12.9 million in reimbursements from the FCC during the quarter. As a reminder, we anticipate being fully reimbursed for all capex related to the Spectrum repack as those activities wind down during 2021. Third quarter total interest expense amounted to $77.3 million, down from $93.2 million in 2019, cash interest expense was $72.9 million compared to $55.4 million in the prior year’s quarter, with the increase due to the incurrence of debt to fund Tribune, partially offset by lower interest rates and lower first lien borrowing levels.
Third quarter adjusted EBITDA of $461 million and free cash flow of $223 million, all before transaction expenses exceeded consensus expectations. This reflects the realization of synergies and growth-related to the Tribune transaction, robust political revenues, the Q3 rebound in core distribution agreement renewals executed in the second half of 2019. Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow include approximately $10 million in distributions from equity investments related to our 31% ownership in the TV Food network. Year-to-date, we received approximately $207 million of TV Food Network distributions. As a reminder, we received cash distributions from TV Food Network on a quarterly basis with the largest payments recorded during the first quarter of each year. For the fourth quarter of 2020, we anticipate reporting approximately $9 million in TV Food network distribution. For the fourth quarter, we’re projecting recurring cash corporate overhead, exclusive of stock comp and transaction costs to be approximately $30 million, and we will come in for the full year, well below our 2020 cash corporate overhead guidance of approximately $120 million. Noncash comp in the projected quarter is expected to be approximately $12 million and $48 million for the full year.