Lamar CEO Sean Reilly gave a terrific presentation at the recent Goldman Sachs Cornucopia Conference. You can read the entire interview at Seeking Alpha. You can listen to the audio webcast here Some highlights from the Seeking Alpha transcript:
On why the out of home industry is growing by only 1% this year versus a historic norm of 3%:
I think this year, given how much political came in last year, I think it’s playing a role in that. For us, in the back half, it’s going to cost us about 1% of what would otherwise be organic growth.
So, if we had the political this year and haven’t had such a large political leap year last year, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation.
And then, of course, we have some verticals… that I think the environment, as a result of the political cycle, has caused them to sit on their hands a little bit.
The example I use, of course, is healthcare. With the confusion and constant stop and start on perhaps overturning the Affordable Care Act, a lot of our healthcare customers don’t know who they’re talking to when they are advertising.
Reilly said that the Houston and Florida hurricanes will have a limited impact on Lamar:
We’re not in Houston proper. But we have markets that surround Houston, places like Corpus Christi and Victoria and Belmont. All our people are fine. We had six employees lose their houses, either through wind or water through Harvey. The structural damage was immaterial. Maybe $1.2 million to $1.3 million in billboard damage. So, immaterial on that front. So, that’s Harvey.
Irma, it’s little early to be real specific on the structural damage. The early reports are less than $2 million, maybe around $2 million, maybe a little more. So, again, between the two storms and the structural damage, it’s immaterial.
On who likes digital and who doesn’t:
We have customers that love it and only want it. And then we have customers that never want it. Cracker Barrel is not real interested in digital. They like that that big bulletin that’s big and bold and on the interstate, telling everybody that they can get pancakes for $6.99.
But then you have customers like McDonald’s that buy across the platform, right, and everything in between.
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