S&P downgrades E.W. Scripps

S&P said it lowered its ratings on E.W. Scripps Co. to B from B+, its senior secured debt to BB- from BB and its senior unsecured debt to B- from B. The 1 recovery rating on the secured debt is unchanged, but the agency revised the senior unsecured recovery rating to 5 from 4.

“The downgrade reflects our expectation that Scripps' S&P Global Ratings-adjusted net leverage will remain above 5.5x. We expect the company's trailing-eight-quarters S&P Global Ratings-adjusted net leverage will be 6.5x in 2024, an improvement from 2023 leverage of 7.7x, but we do not view the company has a path to reducing leverage below 5.5x over the next 12 months,” S&P said in a press release.

The agency said it now expects free cash flow generation of around $250 million in 2024 revised down from the previous estimate of about $340 million in 2024. The estimates are before preferred dividends.

The outlook is negative.

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