Boat Rocker Media Inc

TSX:BRMI

Earnings Call Analysis

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Operator]

Good morning. My name is Ina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Boat Rocker Media Second Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

Before turning the call over to management, I would 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 2024 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 information currently available to management, which includes assumptions about continued revenue based on 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 28, 2024, and second quarter MD&A dated August 13, 2024, 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 annual MD&A dated March 28, 2024, which are available on the corporate website and its filings with Canadian securities administrators on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com.

With that, I will now 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, Ina. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Boat Rocker Media Second Quarter 2024 Results Conference Call. On the call with me today are Judy Adam, our CFO; David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg, our Co-Executive Chairman and Co-Chairman of Boat Rocker Studios.

Despite ongoing industry-wide reset in the film and television sector, we delivered a Q2 buoyed by strong deliveries in our Canadian unscripted business and multiple premieres from a robust slate across all genres. Our total adjusted EBITDA was $2.6 million, while total revenue, including Untitled Entertainment, was $58.6 million.

As we mentioned on our last call, we're executing on our content investment plan and deploying a portion of our cash available for use towards investment in IP, particularly own scripted series, premium docs, international core productions and completion financing opportunities. We're steadfast in our conviction that using our capital and corporate resources to maximize control over our destiny and provide the most flexibility in our IP strategy is the pathway to future growth.

Our balance sheet remained very healthy this quarter as we continue operating debt-free with $77.6 million of cash available for use at the quarter end. Our balance sheet was bolstered, of course, in Q2 by the sale of Untitled Entertainment at the end of June for $52.3 million in gross cash proceeds and a recognized after-tax gain of $50.3 million.

The opportunity to sell our stake in Untitled, our Representation business, to TPG, a leading global alternative asset management firm, allowed us to maintain diversification in our portfolio while at the same time, further streamline our core operations.

In addition to recognizing healthy cash proceeds, the sale of Untitled allowed us to retain a minority stake in the talent management business through common equity in TPG's new talent management company. We intend to strategically use the proceeds from our sale of Untitled to rebuild for the long term.

This includes expanding our long-standing relationship with Insight Productions with the purchase of the remaining minority interest in the company and continuing to lean into high-margin service work, growing our stable of clients and producing more high-quality unscripted content.

As a preeminent producer of tentpole format series, including Top Chef Canada, The Amazing Race Canada and many others, we're looking forward to continue working with Insight Productions' Chairman and CEO, John Brunton, and his stellar team as they further grow the business. Their reputation as an industry leader has drawn attention from an expanded group of clients, stateside and abroad, who value and trust their team to deliver on their most complex production needs.

In addition, where possible, we're also intending to deploy capital to repurchase our shares pursuant to our current NCIB. Given management's and the Board's continued belief that Boat Rocker share price is below its intrinsic value and that the repurchase of the stock should provide an attractive return on investment, we've also received approval from our Board of Directors subject to regulatory approval by the TSX to renew the NCIB to continue to purchase a maximum of approximately 2 million subordinated boarding shares equal to 10% of our public float.

We're pleased to reconfirm our guidance and anticipate full year 2024 adjusted EBITDA to be approximately $10 million. This includes continuing operations and Untitled only up until June 27, 2024. We continue to focus our efforts on streamlining our business as well, and we'll be proactively reducing costs as we set the company up for the long term and its success.

I'll now turn over to Judy for a brief financial review. Judy?

[Judy Adam, executive]

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. As John mentioned, the company sold its 51% interest in Untitled to TPG at the end of June. The operations of Untitled provide substantially all of the company's Representation segment. And in accordance with IFRS 5, noncurrent assets held for sale into continued operations, Untitled financial performance and cash flows have been presented in our Q2 financial statements as discontinued operations on a retroactive basis.

As a result, the company now has 2 reportable segments: Television and Kids and Family. For further reference, our Q2 2024 financial statements and MD&A are filed on SEDAR+ and is also available under our company's website at www.boatrocker.com.

On a consolidated basis, total revenues from both continuing and discontinued operations of $58.6 million for Q2 2024 compared to $128.7 million in the same period of 2023. The decline in revenues is largely owing to result in the Television segment, which varies considerably from those in 2023, given the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike, in addition to challenging market conditions.

Adjusted EBITDA from both continuing and discontinued operations was $2.6 million versus $5.4 million in Q2 2023, a decrease of $2.8 million. Net income in the current quarter was $41.9 million versus a net loss of $5.8 million in Q2 2023, an increase of $47.7 million. The quarter benefited from the after-tax gain of $50.1 million related to the sale of Untitled.

Let's take a closer look at our segments. Television production revenue was $20.8 million in Q2 of this year compared to $89.7 million in the same period of 2023, a decrease of $68.9 million. This variance is primarily attributable to the impact of the strike and pullback in spending by buyers.

In Q2 of this year, we did not have any comparable scripted production. However, production revenue for unscripted shows was higher in the current period.

Q2 2024 service revenue was $10.9 million compared to $8.6 million in the prior year. Strong performance by the company's Canadian unscripted business was offset by a lower volume of U.S. service production.

In addition, Q2 2024 included executive producer and other fees with no similar amounts recognized in prior year period. As a reminder, these types of swings in our product mix, production volume and deliveries are not uncommon for Boat Rocker and indeed, all production-based companies in the media and entertainment space.

Distribution revenue can vary significantly quarter-to-quarter with a historic whole trend of a stronger H2. In Q2 of this year, distribution revenue was $4.7 million versus $3.9 million in the same period of 2023.

In the Kids and Family segment, Q2 revenue was $11 million compared to $18.7 million in the same period of 2023. This decline from the prior year was predominantly owing to lower service output and distribution revenues, while production revenue was comparable to the prior year period.

Representation revenue, which is now reported in discontinued operations, was $11.1 million in Q2 2024 compared to $7.8 million in the same period of 2023. The prior year was negatively impacted by the WGA strike.

Total production, distribution and service expenses for the company were $36.7 million in Q2 2024 compared to $102.7 million for the same period of 2023, a decrease of $66 million or 64%. This variance was driven by decreases in amortization of investment in content and service costs associated with lower production and service production overall.

General and administrative costs from continuing operations was $14.9 million in Q2 2024, a decline of 19% from Q2 2023 where they were $18.4 million. The significant decline in the quarter is the result of company-wide restructuring efforts taken in the first half of the year with total G&A savings year-to-date of $4.5 million. As John mentioned, we continue to proactively reduce cost across the company in a number of categories and expect a positive downward trend to continue into the back half of the year.

Adjusted EBITDA from both continuing and discontinued operations for the 6-month period increased by $2.1 million or 56% to $5.8 million compared to $3.7 million in the prior year comparative period driven by lower G&A expenses. As we noted in the past earnings report, we look at adjusted EBITDA as the defining metric to gauge success from a financial perspective.

The company's balance sheet remains strong with no corporate debt and total cash at the end of Q2 2024 of $123.7 million. With gross cash proceeds from the sale of Untitled of $52.1 million, cash available for use at the end of Q2 2024 was $77.6 million.

As John mentioned earlier, we are continuing to execute on a content investment plan that will see Boat Rocker deploy a portion of its significant cash available for use on investment in IP and where possible, to repurchase shares through our NCIB.

David will now share some studio highlights, including updates of our content strategy.

[David Fortier, executive]

Thanks, Judy, and good morning, everyone. Our IP investment strategy remains at the core of our studio operations this year. As previously noted, we're materially increasing our investment in content, including documentaries, international and domestic coproductions and premium scripted series.

We firmly believe that using our capital and corporate resources to help greenlight projects we believe in while bolstering our ability to manage the monetization of these projects will help fuel our growth.

This past quarter, our premium scripted series, Orphan Black: Echoes, starring Krysten Ritter, Keeley Hawes and Amanda Fix had a strong premier on AMC, AMC+ and BBC America on June 23. Series has welcomed back fans of the original series while also introducing a new audience of tech, action and horror fans as well. The series also premiered on ITVX in the U.K. in May, pulling in notably strong audiences for the broadcaster.

In addition, we recently announced a new licensing deal with Heathside Trading for the Orphan Black franchise in the U.K., Europe and the U.S. The deal will see Heathside launch a range of Orphan Black and Orphan Black: Echoes collectible products, including trading cards, action figures and drinkware.

Our high-profile scripted series, Palm Royale, for Apple TV+ received 11 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series for Kristen Wiig and Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series for Carol Burnett. The awards will be presented on September 15 in Los Angeles.

We also announced that we partnered with Don Cheadle's production company, This Radical Act, to develop a scripted television adaptation of Mindset, an acclaimed science fiction mystery from Vault Comics.

Principal photography on our upcoming owned scripted series, BET, for Netflix just wrapped, and the series will now be heading in to post. Finally, we're also looking forward to being able to formally announce the renewal of a long-running scripted series.

Our unscripted division yielded further positive results this quarter. Downey's Dream Cars, starring Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr., won a Daytime Emmy Award in the lifestyle program category. Season 10 of The Amazing Race Canada premiered on CTV, CTV.ca and the CTV app on July 2, while season 3 of Dark Side of the '90s premiered on July 16 on VICE TV.

In addition, our feature documentary, War Game, from Emmy award-winning directors, Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber, premieres on August 2 through Submarine Deluxe and will be available on video-on-demand this fall through Decal Releasing. The film was recently chosen as a critics' pick by The New York Times. We look forward to announcing additional updates to our documentary slate soon.

Our Kids and Family division saw the high-profile premiers of No Time to Spy: A Loud House Movie on Nickelodeon and Paramount+ on June 21 in the U.S. and YTV on June 22 in Canada and 2D animated series, Exploding Kittens, which recently premiered on Netflix. We're also looking forward to being able to formally announce the renewal of a key Kids and Family property in the near future.

While there's no doubt that we're continuing to feel the effects of an industry-wide slowdown and cost-cutting from major buyers, we remain optimistic about the media and entertainment industry, its ability to rebound and our place in it. We're confident that our IP-first strategy, along with our strong balance sheet and dedicated team, will drive positive results and set us on a path towards long-term growth.

Operator, that concludes our prepared comments this morning. We'd now like to open up the floor for questions and answers.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Vince Valentini from TD Cowen.

[Vince Valentini, analyst]

First, let me hit the big picture question. You have $77 million of cash. You're going to spend, call it, you say $7.5 million as a reasonable estimate for 30% of Insight. That still leaves you with almost $70 million. The current market cap is $54 million.

So I mean you could buy back the entire share base with your current cash. Is there any reason to even consider anything else other than that, given how crazy cheap the share price is? And why would you be looking at investments in growth or acquisitions just -- you could privatize the company and then let all of that benefit accrue to a much smaller amount of shareholders. So I'm just wondering how you grapple with that situation, given the disparity between intrinsic value and your share price?

[John Young, executive]

Vince, it's John. Look, I think you make a good point and one that we're obviously staring the face -- in the face in terms of the value, the intrinsic value versus the basic asset value that you pointed out there with the cash available for use.

Look, I think at the end of the day, obviously, the Board will be looking at all sorts of areas where we have to find shareholder value, and the things that you talk about are going to be on the table. What we are focused on at the moment is allocating that capital as appropriately quickly into areas where we can get the right return.

Obviously, the NCIB and getting that done at the end of the month, I think, will be a good use of that capital. It's not a lot of capital, as you mentioned.

Buying back and working with Insight and having more of that is another good ROI, good use of capital. The investment in IP strategy, we're still seeing, obviously, this reset and the disruption in the industry. So having the ability to be able to find projects internationally, coproduction projects or opportunities to finance the last piece needed to make a show -- to get a show going and our team, production, creation and distribution teams being involved in the monetization of that is also a great -- I think a great use of that capital.

But it's not lost on us what you say, Vince, in terms of the bigger picture, something we'll continue, obviously, to discuss as a Board. In the meantime, the focus is deploying that capital as best we can, and we definitely have 2 or 3 areas right now that we're going to be working on, which I think will pay dividends for shareholders.

[Vince Valentini, analyst]

Okay, John. On a different topic, just the demand environment. Can you try to help us a bit with what we're seeing in your results today? Obviously, as you've guided to your revenue down pretty significantly versus last year. Is this still the hangover from all of the writers' and actors' strikes, and the pump hasn't filled back up yet?

Or is this partially a reflection of just a structural change in demand from either some of the Canadian partners you have who seem to be struggling or just the global demand for content? It strikes me as a bit unusual. All the platforms are still there, all the streaming platforms. I haven't noticed any of them shut down and wouldn't -- if they're trying to cut costs, wouldn't they want to be trying to be creative and looking for some less expensive content versus the massive budget shows that they all go after?

I would think that there would be a niche for you guys to fill, but I'm struggling if I'm missing something there, if you're seeing already a substantial reduction in demand? Or is it just a timing issue from the strikes last year?

[David Fortier, executive]

Hey, Vince, it's Dave here. I think, well, there's a lot in what you just said. I think we are experiencing a very -- still a very subdued market, especially in the U.S. Demand is not what it was for lots of reasons, including just the massive reset that we're seeing on behalf of the major buyers and all buyers, frankly.

Our understanding is that there is -- there was a lot of development done during COVID and in the lead-up to the strikes. So there is a lot of banked development that the streamers have. Think the strikes have given everybody an excuse to take stock of what it's like to not have as much content flowing through the streamers just to see where subscribers fall. And as a result, we're not seeing the same buying activity at all that we were seeing a few years ago.

That being said, turning to what you said at the end of your question, we do see opportunities in the marketplace to fill gaps in financing and put together projects in a more indie-financed way, where we can not only add value as a producer or as a financier using our capital to make equity investments or distribution advances to get projects off the ground.

We're seeing that certainly, internationally. There's lots of activity internationally, but we're also seeing it in the U.S. with the smaller buyers and even, frankly, on a lesser scale with some of the bigger buyers, who, as you mentioned, are looking to take advantage of these types of structures for cost savings and to get other projects on the go.

I think these models, as we've been doing this for a long time, they shift in many ways with the wins of the markets and where things are. And they're always looking for new ways to save money and get content off the ground. So that's certainly what we're focusing on.

[Vince Valentini, analyst]

Just to make sure I understand that. Last one for me is just to understand a piece of that. Your strategy shifting a little bit from creating your own ideas and your own IP from scratch, I'm sure you're still going to do some of that. But now you're looking to just hop on other projects somebody else already started and has on the go but needs a little help with the funding and getting the international distribution so you can get in at a more mature stage with less risk? Am I understanding that pivot in the strategy correctly?

[David Fortier, executive]

That's exactly it. It's not as much of a pivot as taking advantage of the resources we have because we've got a very strong distribution division. And so we can add value by taking distribution rights or making equity investments or adding completion financing to get projects off the ground.

And so -- and that can come with various different elements, support on the creative side, supporting on the business side and also on the sales side. So it's not to say that we are discontinuing or to any degree, our development activities. We're still looking aggressively in the marketplace for a great IP to start from the beginning to originate, to develop and to sell. It's always been a core part of our business, which we continue to do.

But while we're seeing and experiencing this downturn in the market and the buying activities of the buyers, we're taking advantage of our resources to be involved with projects, add value and capitalize on what is being made not only in the U.S. and Canada but internationally.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] And your next question comes from the line of Drew McReynolds from RBC.

[Drew McReynolds, analyst]

Just a follow-up to kind of Vince's last question just on the content demand. So thanks for that granularity and where you're seeing some pockets of strength. Just on the large kind of U.S. buyers, streamers or linear, like is it just simply a profitability from their perspective?

Like it looks like aggregate content demand, just the numbers we see, is still kind of stable. So there's a lot of it out there. Is it kind of a mix shift to sports? Is it kind of timing where they have to kind of recalibrate strategy and then they'll see what's kind of available for different genres? Just is there any kind of granularity you can give us on that? And then I've just got a couple of others.

[David Fortier, executive]

Sure. There's no -- we don't have complete clarity on, obviously, where the money is being spent. We know that there's still strong spending on behalf of all the streamers. We do hear and read that profitability is not what these streamers want it to be. And so I think they're all in the process of continuing to stay relevant in what is still very much a streaming or situation for them.

But their spend is being spread across very high-budgeted series. Certainly, when you look at the Apples and the Netflixes and the Amazons, which is taking up a lot of that spend, which are a streamer-owned series in many respects, and they are getting into sports and other life -- their programming.

And so while we're seeing continuing spend in the reports, we are certainly experiencing subdued demand for the type of programming that Boat Rocker makes. And so -- and that's why I think we're -- we and our peers are looking at this saying, "Okay, where are the opportunities?"

Certainly, there -- it's not to say that they aren't buying. They just are not buying as much as they used to be buying. And if they are spending money, they're not spending money where they were spending it before.

And so that's the only clarity that we have. But as I said earlier, we're looking at that. We continue to develop, continuing to sell them to the buyers and offer them different structures to get shows greenlit and not just the U.S. We're doing it internationally as well.

[Drew McReynolds, analyst]

Okay. That's helpful. And then just on the cost efficiency side, makes a lot of sense, obviously, just readjusting the cost base. I think kind of post IPO went into kind of the bulge of demand. There's probably a level of investment you put into the operation that you're now kind of taking out part of that.

I'm just wondering how much kind of more cost efficiency you'd like to squeeze out? Is it really just kind of running off kind of G&A through 2024? Is there some additional stuff you may be able to do depending on the top line in 2025?

[John Young, executive]

Do you want to jump in? Yes. No, there -- it's exactly as you said. There, we're taking account of where we see in the market. And we've been working for the last number of quarters streamlining the operations, particularly centralizing a lot of the leadership and the teams and the studio. So that is happening, and we'll see more of that happening in the back half of the year, not dissimilar to what we're seeing in the first half.

So we're going to continue doing that and proactively getting that cost base to an area that makes sense for thinking about the work that we're going to be doing. We're focused much more, as Dave said, there on the IP investment strategy that leans into the distribution team getting access to content, distributing it and monetizing it. And that will allow us, again, to manage costs and to streamline more of the business in the next 6 to 12 months.

[Drew McReynolds, analyst]

Okay. Super. And then last one for me, maybe for you, John. Just on Dino Ranch, maybe an update there if there's kind of anything notable you'd like to flag and just overall, how kind of the franchise is performing in, obviously, what's a more difficult environment?

[John Young, executive]

Yes. Well, I mean I know Dave definitely talked a little bit about us looking forward to formally announcing some various series down the line, which we'll get to, obviously, in due course. Dino Ranch continues to perform as a show extremely well.

The team has done a lot of work developing the next iteration of that. So all I can say, Drew, is we're excited about where we're at and continuing to see Dino Ranch as an important part of Boat Rocker's Kids and Family future.

[Operator]

There are no further questions at this time. I will now hand the call back to Mr. John Young for any closing remarks.

[John Young, executive]

Thank you, Ina. Thanks for your help this morning. Thank you, everyone, for joining us. Really appreciate your listening in and support of Boat Rocker. Look forward to catching up and speaking again soon. Thank you. Thanks all.

[Operator]

Thank you. And that concludes our conference today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect.