The out of home debt markets have been remarkably resilient during the Covid. Clear Channel just amended its credit agreement to get more flexibility. OUTFRONT did the same in April. Lamar expects to come through the downturn without asking for any covenants amendments from its lenders and it raised $400 million in debt in early May.
Insider’s finance company Billboard Loans has been active making small OOH loans as has Stark Capital Solutions. Metro Phoenix Bank is making medium sized out of home loans.
Insider hears of borrowers who have asked for adjusted payment terms for a short time period while they work through the trough but we have not heard of any defaults of foreclosures. Call it what you will – exogenous shock, recession pandemic – out of home is resilient and recovering.
Three tips for dealing with the bank. (1) Be timely. Insider remembers a saying from his banking days: “bad new is tardy, good news is prompt.” It’s human nature to delay telling the bank anything bad. Your banker will appreciate timeliness regardless of what the news is. (2) Don’t communicate news, communicate your plan. If revenues are down explain what you’re doing to cut costs and to grow revenues and to stay in compliance with your credit facility. (3) Point to external data which your banker can look at to track the recovery like these three webpages:
- Inrix weekly National Traffic Volume Synopsis which comes out every Monday
- Geopath’s Blog which reports traffic and mobility patterns.
- OAAA’s press releases. There’s an article on a survey on consumer attitudes towards travel as well as past press releases on industry revenues.
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