Urban One, Inc. (NASDAQ:UONE) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

And so we got to figure that. But the good news is we’re at a leverage level now where we’re going to have time to do that. We’re going to have time to make those investments. We’re going to have time — we’re not going to be under any pressure that will make us have to operate in a non-effective, non-strategic way. I think that we’re going to have the runway to make the turn.

Bradd Kern: Sure. On the balance sheet, I mean we’ve talked about the — you talked about the economics of the casino. So in the world where in the fifty-fifty shot where it doesn’t go through, you mentioned on the call that its leverage kind of — leverage in the low 3s that there’s other forms of capital return you might be looking at. So how do you — how are you thinking about that versus potential strategic actions on the radio and TV side? Or other industries whether it’s gaming or otherwise?

Alfred C. Liggins: Yeah, look, we match — everything for us is — so strategy is often very overused in terms of a rationale as to why you do something. Something — strategy has to be accountable to what your current return options are. I don’t think you make you make a strategic decision and not match that up against what’s the best use of capital, right? So I would not — if we can pay — if we can buy our bonds and retire our debt and get a 10.5% return, there’s no strategic decision that we would make that would net us a 5% return. We wouldn’t do that. You just pay down — you can pay down your bonds, right? Because if it’s strategic, then it should actually yield you an outside return, right? It should have you create value and the value that it creates needs to be better than what else you can do with the capital. That’s the lens under which we look at so. And it’s worked for us. Does that make sense?

Bradd Kern: I guess I’m just wondering, is there at some point, is there a leverage level that you — I know the stock isn’t terribly liquid, is there a leverage level that you start to think about, you shift from debt reduction to whether it’s share buybacks or…

Alfred C. Liggins: Maybe.

Bradd Kern: Whatever it is to return that cash.

Alfred C. Liggins: Yeah. Maybe, I mean, we were buying back shares last year. Then we bought that $25 million worth of shares at $5.30. And I go up, we said it come down, but it’s kind of…

Peter D. Thompson: Given the macro that we’re just — we got some strategic ahead of us. That will be on the plate at some point, but it depends on how revenue goes, how EBITDA goes, how we feel about it.

Alfred C. Liggins: And share buyback analysis goes through the same return rigor that buying a radio cluster does, us buying more cable assets, us investing in the casino. If — we’re not going to buy back our stock and earn a 5% return over paying down our debt and earning 10.5% return.

Bradd Kern: Okay. Thank you. And last question for me is just housekeeping. When you mentioned the 3.7 times leverage by end of year, is that — I assume that’s…

Alfred C. Liggins: We said 3.7 times.

Bradd Kern: Right, 3.7 times. That’s on a net basis? And that’s — is that pro forma for any other uses of cash or what are the underlying assumptions in the 3.7 times.