Here is a summary of Clear Channel Outdoor’s third quarter 2024 earnings release, third quarter 2024 earnings presentation and third 2024 earnings call, analyzed by SignValue.
- Consolidated revenues grew 6.1% to $559 million due to growth internationally, at airports and in the US. Revenues were up 5% in the US. Here’s a summary of Clear Channel Outdoor’s US operation.
- Corporate expenses were up 17%
- Consolidated Adjusted EBIDTA increased 2.6% to $143 million for the third quarter of 2024.
- Clear Channel Outdoor hd $5.7 billion of debt at September 30, 2024 at a weighted average cost of 7.4%. Total debt/Cashflow is a high 9.77 based on trailing 12 months EBIDTA of $559 million.
CEO Scott Wells talks about international assets sales.
Negotiations for the sale of Europe north are continuing and we remain committed to exiting Europe at a price that reflects the value being delivered by this business. Additionally you may have seen that JCDecaux terminated its agreement to acquire our Spanish business after deciding to withdraw its regulatory filing with the Spanish competition regulator… regulatory commitments exceeded what JCDecaux was willing to pursue. The good news is that our Spanish business continued to perform well throughout the process and we are well positioned to bring it back to market in the relatively near future. Lastly our latam sale process is ongoing and we will provide further updates in due course…
CEO Scott Wells on the failed Spain sale
I think Spain is on people’s minds in in different ways…it’s just an example of the regulatory state that we live in and that we have to take seriously…JCDecaux believed when we inked the deal 17 months ago that this would be able to be done…once that deal is inked it is on the onus of the buyer to work with the Regulatory Commission and for whatever reason it it didn’t it didn’t get across the hurdle…We announced Italy and Spain at the same time and Italy was the same scenario where we’re we’re competitors in that market but for whatever reason the dynamics of it the size of the the deltas you know what whatever the the nature of the Regulatory Commission Italy went right through in Spain you know obviously didn’t
SignValue’s Take: The difficulty unloading international assets is part of the reason why they never should have been bought. A regulatory authority that delays a potential deal for 17 months and then derails it with excessive demands? Not worth the time or trouble to enter that market. Clear Channel Outdoor stock finished down 1.7% on a day when the S&P 500 declined 1.6%, OUTFRONT declined 1.7%, and Lamar declined 0.8%. If you have questions contact Paul Wright, CEO, SignValue, paul@signvalue.com, 480-657-8400.
To receive a free morning newsletter with each day’s Billboard insider articles email info@billboardinsider.com with the word “Subscribe” in the title. Our newsletter is free and we don’t sell our subscriber list.
Paid Advertisement
