Gary Ferrera
Analyst · Mike Hickey with the National Alliance Capital Markets
Thank you, Kurt. I'll now spend some time reviewing our fourth quarter and full year 2011 financial performance in a bit more detail, as well as provide guidance for the first quarter and full year 2012.
For the fourth quarter, our total revenue decreased 3% to $114.6 million, driven by a 2.4% decrease in total advertising revenue, including beverage, to $101.3 million, and a 7% decrease in Fathom Events revenue to $13.3 million. For the full year, our total revenue increased 1.8% to $435.4 million, driven by a 1.8% increase in total advertising revenue, including beverage, to $386.1 million and a 2.5% decrease in Fathom Events revenue to $49.2 million. The advertising revenue mix for the full year was 69% national, 21% local and 10% beverage versus 72%, 18% and 10%, respectively, for fiscal 2010.
Total advertising revenue represented 89% of our full year revenue and is unchanged from 2010. National Ad revenue excluding beverage in Q4 decreased 7.3% versus Q4 2010 to $69.4 million, driven by a 7.8% decrease in CPM and a decrease in utilization from 114.3% to 112.1%, partially offset by a 0.4% increase in our Q4 impression base. Our Q4 CPM decline was primarily due to the very soft scatter market environment and a great number of lower-priced airplane deals and cheaper revenue and inventory deals.
As Kurt alluded to, the soft scatter market was a result of the weak economic outlook going into Q4 and the record TV upfront and the fact that those commitments are firm in Q4.
For the year, National Ad revenue excluding beverage decreased 1.6% versus 2010 to $267.5 million driven by utilization decrease to 100.3% from 101.5% on impressions that were up 0.1% and a slight decline in CPM of 0.4%. The addition of several network affiliates offset a decrease in theater industry attendance for the quarter and year.
We entered the fourth quarter of 2011 with approximately $1.5 million of make-goods, and as of the end of the quarter, we had approximately $2.7 million of make-goods. This balance is slightly lower than the year end 2010 balance of $2.8 million, and fell comfortably within the range of our historic levels, as efficient inventory management was able to offset some of the impact of the weaker-than-expected Q4 2011 box office.
As we have mentioned in the past, unexpected increases or decreases in industry theater attendance does not have a meaningful impact on our results.
Our Q4 beverage revenue decreased 1.1% to $8.6 million from $8.7 million in Q4 2010, driven by a 4.3% decrease in founding member attendance, partially offset by the 6% contractual CPM increase in 2011. For the full year, beverage revenue increased 2.2% versus 2010, primarily due to the 6% contracted CPM increase partially offset by a 2% decrease in founding member attendance for the year.
Our local advertising business continued to perform well as Q4 local revenue increased 15.3% to $23.3 million from $20.2 million in Q4 2010, with same screen sales increasing approximately 9.9%, and full year local same screen sales increasing approximately 11.2%. This strong performance for the full year was due primarily to the continued increase and larger value contracts for both regional clients, as well as national clients advertising in select markets as the total dollar value of contracts over $100,000 increased approximately 58%, and the number of these larger value contracts increased by over 30%.
Total Q4 advertising revenue per attendee decreased 2.7% to $0.69, with our national advertising revenue per attendee excluding beverage decreasing 7.6% to $0.46 per attendee, and our local ad revenue per attendee increasing 15.3% to $0.16, both on a 0.3% decrease in Q4 theater attendance.
Full year 2011 advertising revenue per attendee increased 1.8% to $0.61 with our national advertising revenue per attendee excluding beverage decreasing 1.6% to $0.42 per attendee, and our local ad revenue per attendee increasing 15.5% to $0.13, both on approximately flat 2011 theater attendance.
Our combined Fathom Events business Q4 revenue decreased 7% to $13.3 million from $14.3 million. This was driven by a 43.8% decrease in Fathom business revenue, offset partially by an 11.6% increase in Fathom consumer revenue. For the full year 2011, the combined revenue for our Fathom Events consumer and business divisions increased 2.5% to $49.2 million from $48 million in 2010. The annual increase was driven by an 11.1% increase in Fathom Consumer Events revenue as a 40.5% increase in the number of event nights versus 2010 was partially offset by a 25% decline in revenue per Consumer Event site as we experimented with several new genres and expanded our network. This Fathom Consumer increase is partially offset by a 13.9% decrease in Fathom business revenue as revenue for Business Events site decreased 14.4% and was partially offset by a slight increase in Business Events sites versus 2010.
Total Q4 adjusted OIBDA decreased 4% to $63 million from $65.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, and for the year increased 0.9% to $224.3 million versus $222.4 million in 2010. Q4 adjusted OIBDA margin was down -- was 55%, down from 55.5% in Q4 of 2010, while full year adjusted OIBDA margin was 51.5%, down from 52% in 2010.
Both the quarterly and annual margin decreases were primarily due to the decreases in higher-margin national advertising revenue, as well as the increase in the percentage of our total revenue derived from our network affiliate attendance and the increase in theater access fees related to advertising network being connected to an increasing number of the higher quality digital cinema projectors. These negative impacts on our margins were partially offset by tight cost control, as well as $3.4 million less in 2011 accruals for annual performance bonuses associated with the lower-than-expected growth.
Looking briefly at diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter, reported GAAP EPS of $0.12 versus $0.22 in Q4 2010, and for the full year we reported GAAP EPS of $0.58 versus $0.62 in 2010. These decreases were driven by $12.2 million and $9.7 million of additional non-operating expenses for Q4 and full year respectively, much of which was non-cash in addition to an increase in the effective tax rate due to some non-operating expenses that were not deductible for tax purposes.
We continue to expand our network. As of December 29, 2011, we had 18,670 total screens in our network, representing a 7.9% or 1,368 screen increase in total screens versus the end of 2010, and a 10.6% increase in digital screens. Approximately 95% or 17,698 of our total screens are now connected to our digital network versus approximately 93% at the end of 2010. These digital screens generate approximately 96% of our attendance versus 94% at the end of 2010.
Our capital expenditures were $4.1 million for the fourth quarter and $13.7 million for the full year, up $3.3 million versus full year 2010. This is well below our annual guidance range that we provided at $15 million to $17 million, primarily due to both the timing of digitizing our recently signed network affiliates, as well as the permanent savings realized for the lower cost of connecting our network affiliates to our network. The increase in 2011 capital expenditures over 2010 was primarily due to digitizing approximately 1,300 affiliate screens during 2011 versus over 600 affiliate screens during 2010. In addition, approximately $1.6 million of tenant finishes associated with our corporate office expansion and lease renewal were capitalized during 2011 for GAAP purposes, but they were fully reimbursed by our landlord. Therefore, our actual cash capital expenditures for 2011 were approximately $12.1 million or approximately 3% of revenue versus 2% of revenue during 2010.
Moving on to our balance sheet, our total debt outstanding as of December 29, 2011, was $794 million versus $776 million at the end of 2010. Our net revolver balance was approximately $35 million at the end of 2011 versus $36 million at the end of 2010. Our consolidated cash and investment balances at year end increased by approximately $15 million to $98 million from approximately $83 million as of December 30, 2010. Our short and long-term investments are comprised of marketable securities such as treasuries and commercial paper. A portion of the $89 million balance specific to NCM, Inc. is reserved for income tax payments and tax receivable agreement payments for the founding members. Excluding these tax-associated reserves, at our current dividend rate at the end of 2011, we'd be able to pay over 4 quarters of dividend even if no additional cash were distributed up to NCM, Inc. from NCM LLC.
The entire $550 million balance of our term loan is fixed under interest rate swap agreements at approximately 6.5% with interest payments due quarterly. Our $200 million ten-year notes have an interest rate of 7 7/8% [ph] with interest payments due each January 15 and July 15 beginning in 2012. The interest rate at our revolver borrowings was 3.7% in Q4 of 2011 versus 2.8% in Q4 2010, and 2.8% for the full year 2011 versus 2.4% for the full year 2010. This increase was related primarily to higher average unused revolver balances and a slightly higher commitment fee rate, both resulting from the July 5th amendment of our credit facility that significantly increased our liquidity. As of December 29, 2011, our NCM LLC cash balance was $9 million and we had $75 million of availability under our $119 million revolver for a total of $84 million in NCM LLC liquidity, versus $44 million of liquidity at the end of 2010.
In addition, we had $89 million of cash and investment balances at NCM, Inc. on December 29, 2011, versus $69 million at the end of 2010, including our consolidated cash and investment balances and availability under our revolver, we had $173 million of liquidity on December 29, 2011, versus $113 million at the end of 2010.
Our pro forma net senior secured leverage at NCM LLC as of December 29, 2011, is 2.7x trailing fourth quarter adjusted OIBDA, including $1.9 million of Regal consolidated integration payments, which is well below our financial covenant of 6.5x as of December 29, 2011. You should also note that while we have no total leverage maintenance covenants that include our senior unsecured notes, our total leverage at NCM LLC was just under 3.6x.
We also announced a regular quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share. This dividend represents an annual yield of approximately 6% based on recent trading levels. The dividend will be paid on March 22, 2012, to shareholders of record on March 8, 2012.
Shifting to our 2012 guidance. We are currently expecting that our Q1 2012 total revenue will be in the range of $71 million to $74 million, or approximately flat to up 5% over 2011. With adjusted OIBDA on the range of $20 million to $23 million or a decline of 3% to 15%. Unfortunately, expected growth in total Q1 revenue over 2011 will not upset the 8% increase in the per attendee part of the theater access fee that occurs every 5 years, and the increase in digital cinema maintenance fees related to ramp-up in digital cinema projectors in our network.
As the portion of these increase costs are somewhat fixed and our revenue levels are historically higher in Q2 through Q4, these increased costs are not expected to impact quarterly growth as significantly during the remainder of the year.
For the full year 2012, we expect total revenues to be in the range of $460 million to $470 million, 6% to 8% over 2011 revenue with adjusted OIBDA in the range of $225 million to $235 million. Approximately flat to up 5% from 2011. While we're expecting revenue growth in every quarter this year, the majority of our adjusted OIBDA growth is currently expected to be in Q2 and Q4, as the expense headwinds affecting Q1 in the existing high-inventory utilizations that make revenue growth more difficult in Q3, is expected to limit growth potential in those quarters. Some of the more significant assumptions that we are making regarding our 2012 guidance include the following: In 2011, our content partner revenues were allocated approximately 45% in the first half and 55% in the second half of the year. We are currently projecting a 2012 allocation of approximately 55% in the first half of the year, much of it in Q2, and 45% in the second half of the year. However, a future shift in our annual Mustang [ph] commitment between quarters is possible as film and DVD release dates or TV program schedules shift throughout the year. We expect both our national and local advertising revenue to increase in the low double-digit range for the year with a national increase, driven primarily by increased utilization on a higher impression base that is related primarily to the addition of network affiliates. Our full year national CPMs are expected to be approximately flat versus 2011. However, we currently anticipate a CPM decline in Q1, due in part to the impact of the softer scatter market environment in late 2011 when we began booking our Q1 revenue, as well as the addition of more price-sensitive clients related to our effort to increase Q1 inventory utilization. We will continue to use our standard 11 30-second units as a denominator in our utilization calculations to ensure period-to-period comparability. As we mentioned before, we can expand the show to a total of 14 30-second units or potential utilization of 127% if there is sufficient market demand.
The local revenue increase is driven by expected improvement in the economy, continued expansion in a number of larger regional client contracts and the impact of the additional saleable screens in our network for 2012. Beginning in 2012, the EFA provides that our annual beverage CPM will increase or decrease by the same annual percentage change as our actual segment 1 national advertising CPM during the previous year. As such, our 2012 beverage CPM will increase about 1%.
The Fathom Consumer Entertainment division is expected to grow in the mid-single-digits during 2012 due to an increase in the consumer revenue offset by the wind-down of the business meetings division. While the number of live metropolitan events will be down versus 2011, primarily due to the timing of events during the spring season schedule, this impact is expected to be more than offset by a focus on higher quality non-met events during 2012 and expanded 3D events.
As Kurt mentioned, we are restructuring the Fathom business to focus on the higher growth consumer business. We'll continue to operate the Fathom Business division for a portion of Q1 2012, but will no longer actively market the business. However, going forward, we may occasionally facilitate a small number of meetings across our network on an opportunistic basis. As such, we expect the Fathom Business meeting division to now generate revenue of approximately $2 million to $3 million during both the first quarter and full year 2012 compared to $3.8 million in Q1 2011 and $14.2 million for the full year 2011.
Our adjusted OIBDA margins for 2012 are expected to decrease slightly versus 2011, due primarily to the 8% increase in the attendance base portion of our theater access fee, increasing from $0.07 per founding member attendee to $0.0756. This attendance base increase only increases 8% every 5 years, therefore the next increase will not incur until 2017. Additionally, the incremental digital cinema maintenance fee will increase over the near-term as we expect to ramp up in installations to continue through the end of 2012.
Lastly, based on deals signed to-date, we expect our lower margin network affiliate attendance base to grow to 16% of our total attendance in 2012 versus 13% in 2011. And this should have a slight impact on margins as a higher percentage of advertising revenue will be applied to our affiliates which are paid under our revenue share structure. We expect 2012 CapEx levels to be lower than 2011 and fall in the $10 million to $12 million range. This expected range includes the digitization of a portion of our currently contracted network affiliate screens and assumes that no additional network affiliate agreements are signed.
And lastly, consistent with 2011, our fiscal 2012 calendar includes 52 weeks. Before we open the line for questions, I'd like to provide tax status information for our 2011 dividends. Of these dividends paid in 2011, 71.8% are to be treated as non-dividend cash distribution for federal income tax purposes and the remaining 28.2% are to be treated as an ordinary dividend. This information is posted on the Investor Relations section of our website and stockholders should receive a Form 1099 due in the next few weeks for the 2011 tax year. That concludes our prepared remarks, and we'll now open up the lines for any questions you might have.