“We delivered solid financial results” was how Clear Channel Outdoor CEO Scott Wells introduced the 2Q 2025 earnings release. Here are the results of the Clear Channel Outdoor 2Q 2025 earnings release, earnings presentation and conference call, sponsored and analyzed by SignValue.

• Consolidated revenue grew 7% due to strong performance by the company’s airports segment.  We will review the company’s America (e.g. US billboards) and Airports segments below.   CEO Scott Wells projects consolidated revenue growth of 5-9% in the third quarter of 2025.
• America (e.g. US billboards) revenue grew 4.4%  to $303 million due to additional revenues from the MTA contract and improved performance in the San Francisco market. Americas operating and SGA expenses grew 7.5% to $176 million due to additional site lease expense for the MTA contract.  America EBIDTA increased 0.5% to $128 million which suggests that the additional revenues added by the MTA contract are low margin.
• Airports revenue grew 16% to $100 million due to increased revenues in New York, New Jersey, San Francisco and Atlanta.  Airports operating expenses increased 12% to $75 million due to increased site lease expenses associated with higher revenue.  Airport cashflow (EBIDTA) increased 27% to $24 million.
• Clear Channel spent $13 million on capexp during the second quarter of 2025, down from $16 million during the first quarter of 2025.
• Clear Channel had $5.0 billion in debt at June 30, 2025, down from $5.3 billion in debt at March 31, 2025 as the company repurchased some debt with proceeds from asset sales.  The debt had a weighted average cost of 7.3%.  Cash interest was $121 for the second quarter or 94% of cashflow (EBIDTA).

CFO David Sailer on the strong performnce of the company’s airport segment.

I think the team has done a really nice job monetizing our assets. It’s a premium buy…a lot of the verticals, banking, technology have performed extremely well.

CEO Scott Wells expects digital billboards to drive future revenue growth

…You should expect that digital is going to be growing better than static….it is just a fact that advertisers really like the flexibility of digital. They like the fact that you can say you want a campaign to start on Friday, on Thursday and the campaign can be up and active. They like a logistically simpler implementation where they don’t have to go through all of the steps…

Scott Wells on international asset sales.

…We still expect to close the sale of our business in Brazil this year, and the sale process for our business in Spain is ongoing.

SignValue’s take:  Lots to like in this release.  Airports are driving Clear Channel’s growth.  The third quarter will be a good one.  Debt is too high but finally coming down.  The slimmed down company financials are much easier to monitor and understand.  The only downside is that additional billboard revenues aren’t increasing cashflow because of high lease costs associated with the company’s MTA contract.   The market liked the news.  Clear Channel Outdoor closed the day up 7.3%.  Lamar was up 1.5%, OUTFRONT up 1.9% and the S&P 500 down 0.5%

If you have questions, contact one of SignValue’s experienced analysts for a free and confidential consultation at info@signvalue.com or call 480-657-8400.

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