Net income totaled $11.0 million or $0.21 per share in the fourth quarter of 1999 compared to net income of $7.6 million or $0.15 per share in the fourth quarter of 1998. After-tax cash flow, an important measure of the Company’s performance, increased 23.3% to $22.7 million, or $0.42 per share (diluted) in the fourth quarter of 1999, compared to $18.4 million or $0.37 per share in the fourth quarter of 1998.
For the year ended December 31, 1999, net revenues increased 20.6% to $197.9 million, broadcast cash flow increased 34.1% to $91.6 million, and EBITDA increased 34.6% to $84.7 million compared to the same period of 1998. Net income totaled $34.2 million or $0.66 per share (diluted) for the year ended December 31, 1999 compared to $26.9 million or $0.54 per share (diluted) for the same period of 1998. For the year ended December 31, 1999, after-tax cash flow increased 21.8% to $70.8 million, or $1.38 per share (diluted), compared to $58.1 million or $1.18 (diluted) per share for the comparable period in 1998.
Commenting on the Company’s results, Mac Tichenor, President and Chief Executive Officer of HBC said, We are pleased to report this solid financial performance for the fourth quarter and the full year of 1999. The year was marked by a number of events that we believe will be important to our future. In particular, we re-formatted eight of our AM stations to become full-time News/Talk stations, and substantially restructured the sales and marketing of these stations. We also operated, during part or all of the year, start-up stations in New York, Phoenix, Houston, McAllen, Las Vegas, and San Diego. Taking advantage of our increased nationwide reach, we launched HBC Radio Network with the aim of capturing a share of the traditional radio network business. In addition, we completed a follow-on equity offering and began to develop our Internet business.
So far in 2000, the pace has continued. Last week, we launched the first Spanish-language FM radio station to cover the entire Dallas-Fort Worth market. Next week, we expect to launch our third FM music format in Los Angeles. As with all of our start-up stations, we expect these stations to post operating losses in 2000, their first year of operation.
On a same-station basis, i.e., stations that we have owned and operated in Spanish for at least two years, revenues for the fourth quarter increased 17.5%, and broadcast cash flow increased 33.2%. Same-station performance improved primarily due to better operating results from the News/Talk stations.
Our start-up stations were essentially break-even for the quarter compared to an operating loss of approximately $1.6 million in the fourth quarter of 1998. For the full year, the start-up stations generated operating losses of $1.0 million compared to a loss of approximately $5.3 million in 1998. This improvement in our start-up results is primarily a result of stronger financial performance from start-up stations launched in 1998.
We commenced the re-formatting and restructuring of eight AM stations to the News/Talk format in the fourth quarter of 1998. Many of these stations are heritage Spanish language radio stations, having been programmed in music for 30 years or more. The changes we made resulted in a decline in revenues from the fourth quarter of 1998 through the third quarter of 1999, as these stations developed new audiences and their sales and marketing efforts were restructured. We are particularly pleased that in the fourth quarter of 1999 we achieved our goal of growth from this group of stations, as they posted a 13.8% increase in revenues. Still, these stations are works in progress and have not yet met the expectations we have for them. We include the results from these stations in our same-station numbers.
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During the quarter, we issued 3.051 million shares of common stock raising approximately $248.7 million. As of December 31, 1999, we had a cash position of $214.8 million. In January 2000, we used $75.0 million of cash to acquire KACE(FM)/KRTO(FM). The combination of our cash on hand and borrowing capacity gives us the flexibility to react quickly to acquisition opportunities.
