Boat Rocker Media Inc

TSX:BRMI

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q2

[Operator]

Good morning. My name is [ Colm ], and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Boat Rocker Media Second Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

Before turning the call over to management, I'd like to remind listeners that today's remarks include non-IFRS measures. Reconciliations between Boat Rocker's IFRS and non-IFRS results can be found in the company's MD&A.

Additionally, management's outlook for 2023 and beyond, anticipated financial and operating results, plans and objectives and answers to your questions will contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current opinions, beliefs, estimates, expectations and assumptions and are based on the information currently available to management, which includes assumptions about continued revenue based on historic past performance, perception of trends and current business conditions, expected future developments and other factors, which management considers appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances.

This forward-looking information represents management's expectations as of today and accordingly, is subject to change. Such information is based on current assumptions that may not materialize and are contained in Boat Rocker's annual MD&A dated March 30, 2023, and is subject to a number of important risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially, and listeners are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information.

A description of the risks that may affect future results is contained in Boat Rocker's annual information form, as well as its MD&A dated August 9, 2023, which are available on the corporate website and its filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

With that, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. John Young, Chief Executive Officer of Boat Rocker Media. Mr. Young, you may begin your remarks.

[John Young, executive]

Thank you very much, [ Colm ], and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for the Bolt Rocker Media Second Quarter 2023 Results Conference Call. On the call with me today are Judy Adam, our CFO; and Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier, our Co-Exec Chairs and Co-Chairman of Boat Rocker Studios.

As normal, I will touch on our Q2 results and our outlook before turning it over to Judy for a financial review, then Ivan will discuss our studio business before we open up the call to questions.

Okay. So our second quarter results illustrate to the trajectory we anticipated, which is building towards a strong second half of the year in both adjusted EBITDA and revenue as well as year-over-year growth. Our television segment performed particularly well this quarter as we delivered several episodes from our premium scripted dramas as well as episodes from shows from other genres. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $5.4 million, while year-to-date, it is 73% higher than in 2022, moving from $2.1 million to $3.7 million.

Although our business is gaining momentum, our macro environment has been disrupted, as most listeners are aware, the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild are on strike simultaneously. The WGA has been on strike since the beginning of May, while SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since mid-July. This combination of waiver actions has had a considerable impact on the entertainment industry as a whole. And of course, Bolt Rocker is no exception.

Although most unscripted, animated and Canadian content can be produced during the strike, there has been an industry slowdown in key parts of our business, namely in the U.S.-based scripted series. Boat Rocker's talent representation business as actor clients are not able to provide services during the SAG strike.

However, we are not changing our guidance of modest adjusted EBITDA growth over 2022 at this time for a number of reasons. On the content side, Boat Rocker's scripted series in post production have not been materially interrupted by the strikes. As we mentioned in our Q1 call, the bulk of our scripted shows have already wrapped their shoots and are working through post production or are being delivered. We continue to anticipate delivering the balance of all episodes from this slate in 2023, which are key elements of our annual results.

Boat Rocker will be distributing many of these titles internationally, as well as mentioned before, because distribution lags deliveries, we expect our distribution business to be stronger in the second half of the year. We do not anticipate this cycle to change as a result of the strikes. It's difficult to know, of course, how long the strikes will last and what impact the new collective agreement terms will have on the industry.

Boat Rocker's view is that if the strikes are prolonged into the fall, our 2023 outlook may be impacted. Extended strikes may also impact our 2024 results as development of new projects and renewals on subsequent seasons of existing series have been delayed. However, operationally, we believe we are well positioned to remain flexible to meet industry changes. With the recent studio reorganization, prudent cost management, no corporate debt and cash available for use, we are streamlined and working efficiently and effectively.

Overall, our Canadian production activity, distribution business and international operations, healthy development slate, multi-genre capabilities and diversification provide us opportunities to weather market volatility. While we can't control the time line of a resolution for the U.S. Guild Strikes, we're going to continue to run our business and focus on improving overall financial performance throughout the remainder of this year. With that, I'm going to turn it over to Judy for a brief financial review. Judy?

[Judy Adam, executive]

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. We are really pleased with the performance this quarter, which led to positive adjusted EBITDA and strong year-over-year growth on a year-to-date basis.

In our Television and Kids & Family segment, we delivered 102 half hours of content in the quarter compared to 86 half hours in the same period of 2022. This increase is reflected in our overall revenue performance, which increased 97% to $128.7 million versus $65.4 million in Q2 2022.

Year-to-date, revenue increased 85.7% from $112.3 million in 2022 to $208.5 million in 2023. This significant leap is primarily due to the expected delivery of some large shows, including the remaining episodes of Orphan Black: Echoes for AMC and the first 4 episodes of American Rust Season 2 for Amazon's Freevee.

As a reminder, premium scripted dramas such as these have higher average revenue per episode than any of the company's other production delivered in the current or prior year periods. You can see the impact of these meaningful deliveries in our Television segment. Revenue increased 178% this quarter, generating $89.7 million compared to $24.4 million in the same period of 2022.

Year-to-date, Television revenue increased 182%, from $55.5 million in 2022 to $156.5 million in 2023. Kids & Family revenue of $18.7 million was relatively flat over Q2 2022, where it was $19.1 million. Strong production and service revenues of $3.2 million and $13.4 million, respectively, were offset by lower distribution revenue of $2 million, attributable to muted royalties from consumer products owing to seasonal softening in the market and industry-wide inventory challenges as well as normal course fluctuations of distribution sales and revenue recognition.

Representation revenue was $8.1 million this quarter versus $9.6 million in Q2 2022, a decline of 16%. We are beginning to see the impact of the WGA strike, some bookings for untitled entertainment clients to chiefly work in the U.S. began to slow in the quarter. Some of these results are also owing to the regular timing fluctuations of payments for work done in prior periods.

Production, distribution and service costs for Q2 were $102.7 million, compared to $35.1 million for the same period last year, an increase of $67.5 million or 192%. The increase was mostly attributable to the higher amortization of content of $60.8 million associated with the increase in production revenue driven by our premium scripted drama deliveries.

Year-over-year, general and administrative costs were relatively flat at $23.3 million compared to $23.1 million in the same period of 2022. Net loss in the second quarter was negative $5.8 million compared to a net income of $4.6 million in the second period of 2022, an unfavorable variance of $10.4 million. Q2 adjusted EBITDA was $5.4 million versus $8.1 million for the same period in 2022. The variance is primarily due to certain large items that benefited the prior year.

Year-to-date, adjusted EBITDA was $3.7 million compared to $2.1 million in 2022, an increase of $1.6 million. Company remains debt free other than our normal course interim production financing.

Turning to cash. There are a few factors at play. Free cash flow can fluctuate significantly period-to-period based on our production and distribution activity and where we are in our inter production financing cycle. Free cash flow was negative $12.2 million in the quarter and negative $25 million year-to-date, going to where these moving pieces landed. These large production-related movements are evident when you look at our balance of cash required for use of production, which was $29.9 million at the end of Q2 this year, down from $54.3 million at December 31, 2022.

Nevertheless, we are still projecting being free cash flow positive in 2023. Over the remainder of the year, we anticipate stronger cash generation from our television segment as well as other areas of our portfolio. As we've mentioned, we anticipate seeing meaningful distribution revenue from sales of our premium scripted slate in the second half of the year as those shows are delivered to domestic and international buyers.

Given free cash flow can move so significantly from period to period as a result of the production cycle, management looks to our cash available for use metric as a more reliable baseline measure of cash performance. Cash available for use is the net cash earned from our business activity, which is used for working capital requirements as well as ongoing development and growth efforts. Total cash available for use this quarter was $27.1 million, up $2.6 million from $24.5 million at the end of Q1 2023.

I will now turn the call over to Ivan to talk about the studio highlights.

[Ivan Schneeberg, executive]

Thanks, Judy. Good morning, everyone. As anticipated, our studio deliveries have continued to pick up as we move through the year, including, as Judy mentioned, the remaining episodes of Orphan Black: Echoes for AMC and the first episodes of American Rust Season 2 for Amazon's Freevee. We'll be delivering Beacon 23 over the balance of 2023.

Meanwhile, the much anticipated second season of Invasion will premiere on Apple TV Plus on August 23. Season 1 of Palm Royale, formerly Mr. and Mrs. American Pie, starring Kristen Wiig and Laura Dern, also for Apple TV Plus, is deep in the post production with the launch date still to be set. These deliveries come against the backdrop of continued high levels of overall studio activity, which landed us the #1 spot on Payback's 2023 Indie list. Playback is Canada's top media industry trade publication and annually measures production and development by volume on a calendar year basis, including service production.

In Q2 of this year, Boat Rocker had 34 shows in various stages of production. Our Canadian unscripted programming is in high demand domestically, with many long-running series continuing. The ninth season of The Amazing Race Canada is currently airing on CTV. Pop Chef Canada was greenlit for an 11th season by Chorus. Big Brother Canada was greenlit for a 12th season by CTV, and Canada's Ultimate Challenge was greenlit for a second season by CBC after a successful debut this winter.

We're currently producing the third season of Mary Makes It Easy for Bell Media and the seventh season of The Great Canadian Baking Show for CBC.

On the premium documentary side, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields for Hulu and ABC News, followed incredible debut numbers with two prime time ending nominations. BS High, which chronicles the Bishop Sycamore high school football scandal, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in June and will air on HBO beginning August 23.

In addition to these titles, we have several new U.S. unscripted shows airing, including Drag Me to Dinner with Neil Patrick Harris, which premiered on Hulu in the U.S. on May -- sorry, in May, and is now available on Disney Plus in Canada. Downey's Dream Cars, starring Robert Downey Jr., which premiered on Max in June and is now available on Crave in Canada, and most recently Maven's The Marriage Pact, which premiered on the Roku Channel on August 4.

In Kids & Family, Dino Ranch secured new licensing deals in LatAm and EMEA regions. Now with 60 global licensees, a full array of Dino Ranch-branded product, including toys, books, apparel and experiences that are available around the world. As season 2 episodes continue to premier worldwide, Dino Ranch remains a top-rated show with kids 2 to 5, both in the U.S. and internationally. Season 3 is slated to launch this September on Disney Jr. in the U.S, and CBC kids in Canada with international rollout expected in Q1 of 2024.

We're also very proud that 2 of our Kids and Family shows were included on the Guardian's 50 greatest ever TV show -- children's TV shows list, Danger Mouse, which we distribute internationally and The Loud House produced by Jam Filled Entertainment, which is currently in its seventh season on Nickelodeon.

Add-on titled entertainment clients are receiving major awards recognition. Four clients received the Tony Awards in leading categories, including Michael Arden for Best Direction of a Musical for Parade and Victoria Clark for best leading actress in a musical in Kimberly Akimbo.

Meanwhile, 4 clients were nominated for prime time Emmys this year, including Juliette Lewis for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie in Welcome to Chippendales and Chris Rock for Best Live Variety Special, Chris Rock: Selective Outrage.

Our studios' continued achievements are exciting and encouraging, especially during the time of uncertainty. There's no doubt that the writers and actors strikes in the U.S. put a damper on business. We look forward to those disputes being resolved. That said, this is a time for change in our industry and with change comes opportunity. In our 20 years in this business, we've seen other periods of upheaval and we steered Boat Rocker through those challenges and continue to grow the business and expand its reach. Mobilizing our talented team, our diverse and international set of businesses, our strong partnerships with creative talent and our focus on operational excellence, we will continue to build.

As always, we look forward to sharing more news with you in the quarters to come. Operator, that concludes our prepared comments this morning. And we'd now like to begin the question-and-answer session.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And your first question comes from Drew McReynolds from RBC.

[Drew McReynolds, analyst]

Yes. Thanks very much. I'll start off just with the strike-related question. Just first on the representation business. I think, Judy, in your remarks or John, in your remarks, beginning to have an impact assuming the strikes aren't resolved, let's just simplistically say, through the end of Q3. Can you help us kind of understand what level of activity still happens in that segment? And secondly, just shifting gears to Dino Ranch on the M&L side, just if you could provide an update on what you're seeing with respect to that trajectory, that would be great.

[John Young, executive]

Thanks, Drew. I'll jump in, and the team can support as needed. Yes. So as you can imagine, with the WGA strike starting back in May there, we saw the sort of the beginnings of the representations that slowed down in June.

And we've got various scenarios, as you can imagine, going through the rest of the year, whether -- and we can't control it as you know. But whether we get back up and running again in August, September, October, November, depending on where it all goes, there's various different ways to look at the business, it will definitely -- definitely calling down our representation business for the balance of the year for sure, based on just the strikes lasting at least another 30 days or so, and they could -- it could well be longer.

The good news is a lot of the revenues as well within representation come from other activities other than just the client -- the actor clients' own shows. So there's a base piece of business as well with regard to brands and other types of content and commercial work, et cetera, et cetera. So there is a solid base there within that business. But yes, we're definitely in our thoughts about our guidance and the balance in the outlook.

We've thought about that getting being lower for the balance of the year for sure. And depending on when this strike gets resolved, and hopefully, it does get resolved soon, we'll be back up and running pretty quickly. And who knows what the effect of the collective agreements are potentially positive in some respects with regard to changes in residuals or changes in pay, et cetera. So there's a few things they have to look at.

But I'm definitely calling it down for the balance of the year, but there is a base there, Drew, that gives us some confidence of revenue still coming in. And then touching on your M&L thing, again, Judy called out a little bit the softness that we've seen in the first half of the year relative to last year inventory levels, various different things, and we can see that with our peers in the market as well. So we've not had the numbers there that we were hoping for in the first half, but again, it's still early days in the cycle for Dino Ranch.

We've got lots of new licensees. So we're up to about 60 licensees now. And I think last time we spoke, we were about 50. We've got an exciting video game coming out for the first time next month -- I'm sorry, October with Nintendo. So there's more licensees. There's new products. again, still early in the life cycle for Dino Ranch. And of course, we're only starting to deliver season 3 later this year. So again, it's still a bit early, but again, a top-rated show, as I even mentioned, and we're hoping again to build upon that in the coming years.

So I hope that gives you some sense of Dino.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] So at this time, there are no further questions. I would now like to turn the call back to Mr. Young for any closing remarks.

[John Young, executive]

Thanks, [ Colm ]. Thank you, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. We look forward to updating you on our third quarter earnings call in November. Thank you.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.