Expect lots of new Lamar digitals and more Lamar acquisition in 2025.  Here are the results of Lamar’s 4Q 2024 earnings release and conference call, analyzed by SignValue.

• Net revenue increased 4.3% to $580 in 4Q 2024.  National and local revenues were up 3.5% and programmatic was up 30%.  The Northeast region was the company’s strongest with revenue growth of 6.3%.  Lamar projects revenue growth of 3% in 2025.
• Adjusted cashflow increased by 3.9% to $279  million.
• Lamar received $115 million in cash from the sale of Vistar Media.  That’s almost 4 times Lamar’s original investment of $30 million.  Lamar may receive, in the future, an additional $15 million in cash related to the sale upon the satisfaction of post closing conditions.
• Lamar had $3.2 billion in debt at December 31, 2024 with a weighted average cost of 4.6% and a weighted average maturity of 3.8 years.  Debt/Cashflow (EBIDTA) is a low 2.83 times, well below the company’s target Debt/Cashflow (EBIDTA) of 3.5-4 times.

Lamar CEO Sean Reilly says digital billboard conversions will increase in 2025

We concluded the year with 4,994 digital units in the air as compared to last year’s year end number which was 4,759 or an increase of 235… anticipate significantly ramping our digital deployment this year and our stretch goal is something in the neighborhood of of 375…

And acquisitions will be up…

The market was relatively quiet in 2024 and we tempered our own activity as we focused on further improving our already strong balance sheet…we ultimately spent about $45 million in acquisitions in 2024.  We anticipate a more active year in 2025. If I had to call it now, I would say count on about $150 million in deals though it could be even more than that…

Lamar CFO Jay Johnson says Lamar has a $1 billion war chest.

As a result of the focus on our balance sheet the company is well positioned to resume more normal acquisition activity with an investment capacity well over $1 billion…we have the ability to deploy this capital while remaining at or below the high end of our total leverage range of 3.5 to 4 times net debt to EBITDA.

 SignValue’s take: The market was not pleased.  Lamar declined 7.3% on a day when the S&P 500 declined 0.4%, Clear Channel Outdoor declined 2.1% and OUTFRONT declined 3.2%.  We wonder if this is because Lamar is forecasting revenue growth of only 3% next year versus Magna Global’s estimate of 5% for the US?

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