Research Update: Terrier Media Buyer Inc. Outlook Revised To Stable From Negative On Expected Advertising Recovery; 'B' Rating Affirmed

Terrier Media Buyer Inc.'s (Cox Media Group) leverage increased to about 9x in 2020 due to the economic recession stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, but we expect a recovery in core advertising and retransmission revenue growth will reduce leverage to around 7.5x in 2021 with further improvement below 6.5x in 2022. Despite the company's elevated leverage, free operating cash flow (FOCF) to debt remained above 5% in 2020 and we expect it to remain above this level in 2021 and 2022. As a result, we are revising our outlook on CMG to stable from negative. As the same time, we are affirming all of our ratings, including the 'B' issuer credit rating, on the company. The stable outlook reflects our

...- Terrier Media Buyer Inc.'s (Cox Media Group) leverage increased to about 9x in 2020 due to the economic recession stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, but we expect a recovery in core advertising and retransmission revenue growth will reduce leverage to around 7.5x in 2021 with further improvement below 6.5x in 2022. Despite the company's elevated leverage, free operating cash flow (FOCF) to debt remained above 5% in 2020 and we expect it to remain above this level in 2021 and 2022. - As a result, we are revising our outlook on CMG to stable from negative. As the same time, we are affirming all of our ratings, including the 'B' issuer credit rating, on the company. - The stable outlook reflects our expectation that FOCF to debt will remain above 5% in 2021 and CMG's leverage will decline to around 7.5x in 2021 driven by a recovery in core television and radio advertising revenue and double-digit percent increases in retransmission revenue....

Research Update