Local is up but national and transit are down so OUTFRONT is treading water.  That’s a summary of the OUTFRONT 3Q 23 earnings release, OUTFRONT 3Q 23 earnings presentation and conference call.

• Revenue increased by 0.2% to $455 million.   Transit revenue was down 8.6%.  Billboard revenues were up 2.6%.  National revenue declined 6.9%.  Local revenue increased 6.0%. The company’s US Media billboard yield grew 2.8% from $2,724 to $2,800 as you can see below.

• Operating expenses grew 2.2% to $338 million due to higher billboard lease costs and SG&A expense.   Billboard lease expenses increased by 8.6% to $124 million.  The company said it added some large billboard leases via acquisition in 2022.  The lease expenses have been added but revenues are still ramping up.
• Adjusted cashflow (OIBDA) declined 5.1% from $123 million in the third quarter of 2022 to $117 million in the 3rd quarter of 2023.
• Capital expenditures declined from $25 million in the third quarter of 2022 to $19 million in the third quarter of 2023 due to fewer digital billboard installs.
• OUTFRONT has $2.8 billion of debt at 9/30/23 with a weighted average cost of 5.5% and a Debt/Cashflow ratio of 5.4 times

OUTFRONT CFO Matt Siegel on the sale of Canada

I’d like to explain briefly on the sale of our Canadian business that Jeremy previously mentioned for $410 million sale price…$300 million U.S. dollars at today’s exchange rate.  We currently expect after tax proceeds to be approximately $290 million. Our intention is to utilize these funds in a manner so that way we may pay down debt.

Siegel says acquisitions have slowed

We closed on $3 million in tuck-in acquisitions during the quarter relating to a number of small deals being committed to in 2022.  Given our current commitments we expect to spend less than $10 million in the fourth quarter.

Billboard Insider’s take:  Transit and national are weak and OUTFRONT relies on transit and national.  OUTFRONT is pulling in the horns with lower capexp and acquisitions for the rest of 2023.  OUTFRONT stock.  The market liked what it heard.  OUTFRONT stock is up 22% over the past five days.  Lamar is up 18%, the S&P 500 is up 5% and Clear Channel Outdoor is down 3%.

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