Clear Channel Outdoor CEO Scott Wells appeared that the TD Cowen 51st annual technology, media and telecom conference this week. A selection of his comments.
Expect More Asset Sales
We’re definitely not done…We need to exit Europe in a reasonable time frame to become a REIT. Nothing has changed…It became clear that we had a mix of assets that were seen as turnaround assets and there were assets that were seen as growth capital opportunities…We are deep in the hard work of addressing the turnaround pieces of the puzzle…EBITDA less capexp is the right way to look at those kind of businesses…It is hard work on the tougher assets…
Digital billboard conversions still generate great returns.
You want to secure a long term lease or easement. You lock in your real estate costs…The cost differential between a conversion and a new build are not that different…It could be as little as a quarter of a million, it could be a half a million…You see the revenue go up four to five times…It pays back in 2-3 years. The IRR’s are in the high 20’s and low 30’s.
On the current economic climate.
It’s not as good an environment as we had in the the second half of 2021 and the first have of 2022 but it’s still a healthy dialogue. It’s definitely improved from where we were at the first of the year…Right now verticals like travel, amusements, business services…lawyers to consultants to copy centers. Those markets are doing really really well…Insurance is still not where we’d like it to be…Some things up some things down….What you had in January and February was a lot of advertisers saying he we’re doing layoffs and we don’t advertise during layoffs or we’re holding onto our budgets a bit…
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