Reservoir Media just closed its first fiscal year as a publicly traded company.
New York-based Reservoir – which floated on the NASDAQ via a merger with a SPAC in July 2021 – has today (June 21) published financial results for its fiscal Q4 2021 (calendar Q1 2022) and FY fiscal 2022, ended March 31, 2022.
Full-year results
According to Reservoir’s SEC filing, the company’s total revenues (including recorded music and publishing) in fiscal 2022 grew 34% to $107.8 million, versus $80.2 million in fiscal 2021.
On an organic basis (i.e. discounting acquisitions), Reservoir says that its overall revenues grew by 15% in the year.
Why the big difference? Because Reservoir today also disclosed that it deployed over $224 million in capital across 110 deals during its first year as a public company, of which 87% were focused on catalog acquisitions.
That $224 million was a larger deployment of capital than Reservoir’s initial deal-related annual spend goal of $200 million.
Some $100 million of that $224 million figure was spent on the acquisition of Tommy Boy Records, which Reservoir bought for $100 million in June 2021.
(Within Reservoir’s new annual report for FY 2022, the company writes: “In the ordinary course of business, [Reservoir] regularly acquires publishing and recorded music catalogs, which are typically accounted for as asset acquisitions. During the fiscal years ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, [we] completed such acquisitions totaling $202,067,308 and $115,227,517, respectively, inclusive of deferred acquisition payments.)
“Ultimately, Reservoir is positioned for growth through turbulent times due to a recession-resistant business model, and this resilience is partly due to the fact that music remains one of the most under-monetized forms of entertainment.”
Golnar Khosrowshahi, Reservoir
According to Reservoir founder and CEO, Golnar Khosrowshahi, Reservoir’s upcoming pipeline of potential deals “remains robust”.
Khosrowshahi added that her company expects to “deploy over $100 million in new capital in fiscal 2023 that will help us broaden and further diversify our portfolio”.
Khosrowshahi told analysts on an earnings call earlier today: “While our acquisition path represents a clear growth opportunity, Reservoir continues to outperform the industry on an organic growth rate as well.
“We remain very confident that we can maintain this as Reservoir is insulated against broader market pressures through having an asset class that is uncorrelated to macroeconomic headwinds that typically impact other businesses.”
She added: “Ultimately, Reservoir is positioned for growth through turbulent times due to a recession-resistant business model, and this resilience is partly due to the fact that music remains one of the most under-monetized forms of entertainment.”
Reservoir’s Music publishing revenues in fiscal 2022 (12 months to end of March) reached $77.1 million, an increase of 17% compared to $66.1 million in fiscal 2021.
And Reservoir’s recorded music revenues for its full fiscal year of 2022, ended March 31, increased by 126% YoY to $29.5 million, versus $13.1 million in fiscal 2021 (see below).
Calendar Q1 / Fiscal Q4 results
Reservoir’s total revenue generated across its fiscal Q4 (calendar Q1 2022) increased 46% to $35.1 million, versus $24.1 million in the prior year quarter.
Music Publishing revenue generated by the company in calendar Q1 grew 29% year-over-year to $25.1 million, compared to $19.4 million in calendar Q1, in 2021.
Reservoir’s Recorded Music revenues, meanwhile, grew 123% YoY to $9.8 million in calendar Q1, versus $4.4 million in the prior year quarter – again, largely thanks to that Tommy Boy Records acquisition last year.
Some of Reservoir’s acquisitions since the firm successfully floated on the NASDAQ in July 2021, include:
- A raft of songs from country songwriter Stephony Smith for an undisclosed fee (in November).
- Hit songs by Platinum-selling songwriter and producer Dallas Austin (November).
- A stake in the publishing catalog of Fred Parris, the writer, lead vocalist and founder of doo-wop group The Five Satins (December).
- The publishing catalog of Grammy-winning DJ, songwriter, and producer Fred Rister (in January 2022).
- The publishing and recorded music catalogs of country star Travis Tritt (January 2022).
In calendar Q1, Reservoir completed catalog acquisitions, including Larry Smith, Henry Jackman, and Larry Kusik.
The company also signed multiple publishing and futures deals over the last few months including Ali Tamposi, Killer Mike and others.
Elsewhere in Reservoir’s latest filing, the company reports that its operating income was $8.7 million in calendar Q1, an increase of 28%, compared to operating income of $6.8 million in the prior year quarter.
OIBDA (Operating Income Before Depreciation & Amortization) in calendar Q12022 increased 34% YoY to $13.9 million, compared to $10.4 million in the prior year quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA in the calendar Q1 increased 47% to $15.4 million, compared to $10.5 million last year.
Reservoir reports that the increases in operating income, OIBDA, and Adjusted EBITDA was primarily driven by double-digit revenue growth from both its recorded music and music publishing segments and “offset by expenses related to being a public company that did not exist in the prior year period”.
“As we close our first year as a publicly traded company, we are proud to announce that we outperformed relative to our expectations and exceeded our capital deployment growth goals with $224 million deployed across 110 unique transactions.”
Golnar Khosrowshahi, Reservoir
Golnar Khosrowshahi, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Reservoir, said: “We are pleased to report very strong results for our fourth fiscal quarter, bringing a close to what has been a record-breaking year for Reservoir. We delivered on our financial commitments, driven by our strategic investments, and continued to execute on our strategy of building a robust, curated, and diversified portfolio of award-winning songwriters’ and artists’ bodies of work,”
Added Khosrowshahi: “As we close our first year as a publicly traded company, we are proud to announce that we outperformed relative to our expectations and exceeded our capital deployment growth goals with $224 million deployed across 110 unique transactions.
“More importantly, we laid the foundation for future growth by significantly expanding and diversifying our roster, and we remain proud of our position within the music industry as a trusted partner that can drive value for our talented artists.”
Khosrowshahi continued: “Going forward, our focus remains on growth, driven by continued execution against our M&A pipeline, as well as through our industry leading value enhancement initiatives.
“Our pipeline of potential deals remains robust, and we expect to deploy over $100 million in new capital in fiscal 2023 that will help us broaden and further diversify our portfolio. We expect to continue to deliver consistent and predictable results in fiscal 2023, supported by a resilient and cash-generative business model.
“We look forward to leveraging our growing brand and position in the music industry and believe we have a strong platform and strategy to drive long-term growth.”
“Given the momentum we built in fiscal 2022, which included numerous new additions to our growing roster of talent, we expect to continue to drive strong growth in both our top and bottom-lines next year.”
Jim Heindlmeyer, Reservoir
Jim Heindlmeyer, Chief Financial Officer of Reservoir, said: “Given the momentum we built in fiscal 2022, which included numerous new additions to our growing roster of talent, we expect to continue to drive strong growth in both our top and bottom-lines next year.
“This growth will be supported by the predictable cash flows that our powerful business model produces.
“Our business model has proven resilient across historical economic cycles, and we have the right strategy to drive long-term value creation for our creative partners, the business and for our shareholders.”Music Business Worldwide