Clear Channel Outdoor Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
February 28, 2023

Key Takeaways

  • Clear Channel delivered Q4 consolidated revenue of $750 million ex-FX, up 1% year-over-year and above Q4 2019 levels, with a record quarter in the Americas and strong European performance.
  • Digital revenue represented 43% of Q4 consolidated revenue and grew 4% ex-FX, driven by new digital inventory roll-outs and the success of its programmatic platform.
  • Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 was $214 million ex-FX, down 3.5% year-over-year, primarily due to lower rent abatements and higher site lease expenses.
  • For 2023, management guided consolidated revenue of $2.575–$2.7 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $540–$600 million ex-FX, despite Q1 headwinds from crypto and emerging tech advertisers.
  • The company is pursuing a strategic review of low-margin European assets—announced a $92.7 million sale of its Switzerland business—and aims to optimize its capital structure and reduce debt.
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Earnings Conference Call
Clear Channel Outdoor Q4 2022
00:00 / 00:00

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Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc.'s 2022 fourth quarter earnings conference call. If you would like to register a question during the presentation, you may do so by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. Now I'll turn the call over to your host, Eileen McLaughlin, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Eileen McLaughlin
Eileen McLaughlin
VP of Investor Relations at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Good morning. Thank you for joining our call. On the call today are Scott Wells, our CEO, and Brian Coleman, our CFO. Scott and Brian will provide an overview of the 2022 fourth quarter operating performance of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. and Clear Channel International BV. We recommend you download the earnings conference call investor presentation located in the Financial section in our investor website and review the presentation during this call. After an introduction and a review of our results, we'll open the line for questions, and Justin Cochrane, CEO of Clear Channel U.K. & Europe, will participate in the Q&A portion of the call. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that during this call, we may make forward-looking statements regarding the company, including statements about its future financial performance and its strategic goals.

Eileen McLaughlin
Eileen McLaughlin
VP of Investor Relations at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that management's expectations, beliefs, or projections will be achieved or that actual results will not differ from expectations. Please review the statements of risk contained in our earnings press release and our filings with the SEC. During today's call, we will also refer to certain performance measures that do not conform to generally accepted accounting principles. We provide schedules that reconcile these non-GAAP measures with our reported results on a GAAP basis as part of our earnings release and the earnings conference call investor presentation. Please note that the information provided on this call speaks only to management's views as of today, February 28th, 2023, and may no longer be accurate at the time of a replay.

Eileen McLaughlin
Eileen McLaughlin
VP of Investor Relations at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Please turn to slide four in the investor presentation, and I will now turn the call over to Scott Wells.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you for taking the time to join today's call. Our fourth quarter results capped off a strong year for our company as we soundly rebounded coming out of the pandemic and benefited from healthy demand for our digital assets. We generated consolidated revenue of $750 million, excluding movements in foreign exchange rates, in line with our guidance and up approximately 1% as compared to our very strong performance in the fourth quarter of the prior year. Our consolidated revenue was also ahead of the fourth quarter of 2019, excluding movements in foreign exchange rates in China. We delivered a record revenue quarter for our Americas business against a record performance in the fourth quarter of the prior year.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Our European business also delivered strong revenue results despite European turbulence and the ongoing strategic review of our businesses in Europe. For the full year, consolidated revenue was up 16.5% excluding movements in foreign exchange rates. I'd like to thank our company-wide team for their dedication and hard work in executing on our strategic plan and contributing to our results during the past year. We operated at a high level as we progressed in our transformation into a technology-fueled visual media powerhouse, reaching a growing pool of advertisers, and we did this while improving productivity. Our story is both an operating one in terms of our efforts to increase revenue, drive further gains in productivity, and increase operating cash flow. It's also a capital structure one in terms of our focus on evaluating all options to improve our leverage ratio and reduce our debt.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

On the operating side, investing in our digital transformation remains central to our plan, including expanding our digital footprint, strengthening our data analytic offerings, and continuously improving the customer experience. We believe we are elevating our ability to provide our clients with the kind of experience they expect from digital media, coupled with the mass reach of out-of-home. Our experience to date tells us these efforts are leading to growth. During the fourth quarter, digital accounted for 43% of our consolidated revenue which rose 4% during the quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year, excluding movements in foreign exchange rates. As we expand our digital footprint, we're continuing to develop a more addressable and efficient operating platform. We're making our solutions more data-driven, easier to buy, and faster to launch.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

These initiatives are allowing us to convert more revenue to cash flow and better leverage our scale and reach while demonstrating results in ways that elevate the attractiveness of out-of-home advertising. We believe these efforts supported our outperformance relative to the majority of other traditional media platforms in the past year. As we execute on our plan, we believe we can drive improved operating cash flow over time, given the operating leverage and strong fundamentals inherent in our model, as shown in the long-term guidance we provided last September and are confirming today. Beyond operating execution, we're also committed to continuing to review avenues that will enable us to establish an appropriate capital structure that we believe maximizes the value inherent in our business.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

At the close of the year, we announced a definitive agreement to sell our business in Switzerland for $92.7 million, which remains subject to previously disclosed closing conditions. We intend to use the anticipated net proceeds to improve our liquidity position, while our strategic review of our low margin and low priority European businesses remains ongoing. As we said, our intention for Europe is to have a perimeter with substantially higher Adjusted EBITDA minus CapEx margins, which is expected to help improve our leverage over time through the generation of operating cash flow and net sales proceeds from potential dispositions. As we have previously emphasized, we cannot guarantee the timing or success of our efforts, and we will continue to communicate further details as and when we are able.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Turning to the year ahead, our business remains healthy, with revenue expected to reach between $2.575 billion and $2.7 billion, excluding movements in foreign exchange rates. In the U.S., we're wrapping up the best upfront since we started measuring, and our premium locations are strong. Although a few categories are reducing or delaying campaigns. As a reminder, the first quarter faces tough comps with the prior year. Specifically, on a national basis, we are seeing softness in the first quarter due to crypto and emerging tech companies pulling back on significant spending relative to the first quarter of 2022. At this point, we're not seeing any major changes from a macro slowdown. Rather, the impacts we're seeing relate to dynamics within specific categories.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Dialogues with advertisers remain very constructive. In fact, we are continuing to develop new categories and broaden the universe of advertisers we can pursue. In Europe, we've maintained some of the momentum we saw in Q4. We're seeing healthy demand with no indications of a slowdown due to macro concerns. Based on our conversations, brand owners have indicated that they will continue to advertise as they recognize both the need and opportunity to remain visible. I should note that we also have an easier comp in Europe, given all markets hadn't fully rebounded in last year's first quarter. Overall, Europe is off to a good start. January came in marginally better than our expectations. As we execute our plan, we are keeping a close eye on trends across our markets and remain optimistic about our business.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Brian will provide our guidance for both the first quarter and the full year. With that, let me now turn it over to Brian.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thank you, Scott. Good morning, everyone, thank you for joining our call. Please turn to slide five. This has been a good year for our business, before going through our fourth quarter results, I want to comment briefly on the full year results. As you know, we provided detailed guidance for 2022 during our Investor Day, which was updated on November 8th. I want to point out our actual results were in line or ahead of guidance for every metric included in the guidance. In my view, this clearly demonstrates the resiliency of our business and the team's ability to remain on course and rebound from the pandemic. On to fourth quarter reported results. As a reminder, during our discussion of GAAP results, I'll also talk about our results excluding movements in foreign exchange rates and non-GAAP measures.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

We believe this provides greater comparability when evaluating our performance. Direct operating expenses and SG&A expenses include restructuring and other costs that are excluded from Adjusted EBITDA and segment Adjusted EBITDA. The amounts I refer to are for the fourth quarter of 2022, and the % changes are the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, unless otherwise noted. Additionally, Switzerland, which is now considered an asset held for sale, will continue to be reported in revenues and Adjusted EBITDA until we conclude the sale. During the fourth quarter, we expanded the number of segments in our reported results. We now have four reportable segments. America, which consists of our U.S. operations excluding airports. Airports, which includes revenue from U.S. and Caribbean airports.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Europe-North, which consists of operations in the U.K., the Nordics, and several other countries throughout Northern and Central Europe. Europe South, which consists of operations in France, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy. Our remaining operations in Latin America and Singapore are disclosed as Other. Given the guidance we provided as part of our third quarter results within our previous reporting format, this morning's presentation and our fourth quarter earnings release used the prior segments for comparability. However, the 10-K we filed this morning includes results for the fiscal years ended 2022, 2021, and 2020 using the new segments. Consolidated revenue for the quarter was $709 million, a 4.5% decrease.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Excluding movements in foreign exchange rates, consolidated revenue was up 0.9% to $750 million at the mid-range of our consolidated revenue guidance of $740 million-$765 million. Net income was $99 million, an improvement over the prior year's net income of $66 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $205 million, down 7.6%. Excluding movements in foreign exchange rates, Adjusted EBITDA was $214 million, down 3.5% as expected, primarily due to lower rent abatements as a result of the rebound in the business. AFFO, which is a metric we introduced recently, was $84 million in the fourth quarter and $93 million excluding movements in foreign exchange rates. Please turn to slide six for a review of the Americas' fourth quarter results.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Americas revenue was $374 million, up 0.8%, in line with our guidance range of $370 million-$380 million. Even more significant, we continue to surpass pre-COVID revenue levels with revenue up 8.5% compared to Q4 of 2019. As Scott mentioned, this was a record revenue quarter against a record performance in the fourth quarter of last year. Revenue was up, driven by airports and digital, partially offset by lower revenue from printed formats.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Digital revenue, which accounted for 42.1% of Americas revenue, was up 2.8% to $158 million across all display types. National sales, which accounted for 40.6% of Americas revenue, were down 2.7%, primarily due to tough comps as the fourth quarter in the prior year benefited from pent-up demand and a few large campaigns from brand owners that have pulled back spending. Local sales accounted for 59.4% of Americas revenue and continued to deliver growth up 3.4%. Direct operating and SG&A expenses were up 8.1%. The increase is primarily due to an 18.2% increase in site lease expense to $132 million, driven by higher airports revenue, new contracts, and lower rent abatements. This was partially offset by lower variable incentive compensation.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Segment Adjusted EBITDA was $156 million, down 7.9%, with segment Adjusted EBITDA margin of 41.8%, down from Q4 2021, due primarily to mix and one-time items. America's margin was more in line with Q4 2019, as expected. Turning to slide seven. This slide breaks out our America's revenue into billboard and other, and transit. Billboard and other, which primarily includes revenue from both bulletins, posters, street furniture displays, spectaculars, and wallscapes, was $295 million, up slightly from the prior year. Transit was up 3.7%, with airports revenue up 5.2% to $77 million, driven by growth across the airports portfolio, including Port Authority. Now on to slide eight for a bit more detail on billboard and other.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Billboard and other digital revenue continued to rebound in the fourth quarter and was up 3.6% to $111 million, and now accounts for 37.7% of total billboard and other revenue. Non-digital billboards and other revenue was down 1.9%. The largest increases were in travel, food, and hotels, with declines in insurance, media, and retail. Next, please turn to slide nine for a review of our performance in Europe. My commentary is on results that have been adjusted to exclude movements in foreign exchange rates. Europe revenue increased 2.1% to $357 million at the high end of our guidance range of $345 million-$360 million.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

The increase was driven by our new Europe-North segment, most notably due to new transit contracts in Denmark, as well as growth in other Nordic countries, U.K., and the Netherlands. In our new Europe South segment, revenue was higher in Spain and Italy, and revenue was lower in France and Switzerland, with the latter driven by loss of certain contracts. Europe revenue was also up 4.7% compared to 2019 comparable period. Digital accounted for 41.6% of Europe's total revenue and was up 7.4%, driven by new digital inventory as well as the success of our programmatic platform, LaunchPAD. The largest contributors to growth included Denmark, Spain, the U.K. and Norway. Direct operating and SG&A expenses were up 2.6%, with the largest driver being an increase in site lease expense. Segment adjusted EBITDA was $86 million.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Segment Adjusted EBITDA margin was 24.1%, in line with the prior year and ahead of Q4 2019. Moving on to CCI BV. Our Europe segment consists of the businesses operated by CCI BV and its consolidated subsidiaries. Accordingly, the revenue for our Europe segment is the same as the revenue for CCI BV. Europe segment Adjusted EBITDA, the segment profitability metric historically reported in our financial statements, does not include an allocation of CCI BV's corporate expenses that are deducted from CCI BV's operating income and Adjusted EBITDA. Europe and CCI BV revenue decreased $33 million during the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the same period of 2021 to $316 million. After adjusting for a $41 million impact from movements in foreign exchange rates, Europe and CCI BV revenue increased $7 million.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

CCI BV operating income was $27 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to $56 million in the same period of 2021. Moving to slide 10 and our review of capital expenditures. CapEx totaled $60 million in the fourth quarter, a decrease of $5 million compared to the prior year. Americas was up $7 million as we ramped up our spending, particularly on digital displays. However, in Europe, CapEx was down $13 million, due in large part to the timing of new contracts and movements in foreign exchange. In addition to our capital expenditures, I also want to highlight that during the quarter, we did continue to close a few more asset acquisitions in the U.S. totaling $10 million. Given our renewed focus on liquidity amid the current macro uncertainty, we are being more selective in our acquisitions. On to slide 11.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

During the fourth quarter, cash and cash equivalents declined $41 million. The decline was in part due to Adjusted EBITDA being more than offset by cash interest payments, CapEx, and asset acquisitions, as well as changes in working capital as a result of an increase in accounts receivable. Our liquidity was $501 million as of December 31st, 2022, down $41 million compared to liquidity at the end of the third quarter, primarily due to the reduction in cash. Our debt was $5.6 billion as of December 31st, 2022, basically flat with September 30th. Cash paid for interest on debt was $124 million during the fourth quarter. A slight increase compared to the same period in the prior year, primarily due to higher floating rates on our Term Loan B facility.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Our weighted average cost of debt was 7.1%, an increase compared to the weighted average cost of debt as of September 30th, 2022 due to increases in LIBOR rates. As of December 31st, 2022, our first lien leverage ratio was 5.2x, up slightly as compared to September 30th, 2022. The credit agreement covenant threshold is 7.1x. Moving on to slide 12 and our guidance for the first quarter and the full year of 2023. At this point in time, we believe our consolidated revenue will be between $540 million-$565 million in Q1 of 2023, excluding movements in foreign exchange rates. Based on month end January exchange rates, foreign currency could result in a 3% headwind to year-over-year reported consolidated revenue growth in the first quarter.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Overall, for the year, we expect revenue to be between $2.575 billion and $2.7 billion, with Adjusted EBITDA between $540 million and $600 million, both excluding movements in foreign exchange rates. The drivers of revenue guidance relative to Adjusted EBITDA guidance are related to mix, the effects of one-time items, and the renegotiation of a large existing site lease contract. AFFO guidance is $75 million-$125 million, excluding movements in foreign exchange rates, down from fiscal year 2022, due primarily to increased interest expense. Capital expenditures are expected to be in the range of $185 million-$205 million, with a continued focus on investing in our digital footprint in the U.S.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Additionally, our cash interest payment obligations for 2023 are expected to be approximately $413 million, an increase over the prior year as a result of higher floating rate of interest on our Term Loan B facility. This guidance assumes that we do not refinance or incur additional debt. As you can see in our guidance for the full year, we expect our revenue to continue to grow. However, we will continue to monitor this closely, but have proven our ability to pivot should the need arise and believe we know how to quickly adjust our expenses and preserve liquidity if needed in the future. Now, let me turn the call back over to Scott for his closing remarks.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Brian. We're off to a good start and believe 2023 will be a positive year for the business despite some uncertainties regarding the macro environment. Supported by a great team and assets, we remain centered on executing against our strategic priorities, including accelerating our digital transformation, improving customer centricity, and driving executional excellence. We believe these efforts are enabling us to elevate the experience and results we deliver to our clients and broaden the pool of advertisers we can pursue. At the same time, we remain committed to addressing our capital structure, divesting our lower margin and lower priority European businesses, and taking the necessary steps to support cash generation of our core business and ultimately reduce our debt. Let me turn the call over to the operator for the Q&A session, and Justin Cochrane will be joining us on the call.

Operator

Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star two. When preparing to ask your question, please ensure your device is unmuted locally. Our first question today comes from Ben Swinburne from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Ben Swinburne
Ben Swinburne
Managing Director and Head of U.S. Media Research at Morgan Stanley

Good morning. Scott, maybe one for you to start us off here. Can you talk a little bit about how you're thinking about the shape of the year? You mentioned the first quarter, particularly in the U.S., faces some category-specific headwinds. Talk about your visibility into Q2 and beyond. Sounds like you expect the year to improve from a growth perspective as we move through the year. Maybe, since we now have your airport segment, which reported, you know, pretty massive growth last year, obviously, Port Authority contributing, can you talk a little bit about the outlook for that business as we look into 2023 and 2024? What kind of expectations should we have? You know, are there other, is there other business out there you may be bidding for that might be material?

Ben Swinburne
Ben Swinburne
Managing Director and Head of U.S. Media Research at Morgan Stanley

Anything you could share with us on the outlook for airports, I think, would be helpful too.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Ben. Good morning. For the shape of the year, you know, it is a sort of Q4 and Q1 have been a little bit of a pause in the momentum that we have seen in the business over the last, you know, five or six quarters. I think it's attributable to a couple of things. It's pretty narrow and it's pretty account specific. Particularly as I look at Q1, it's the emerging tech companies and the crypto companies. We never really had that much exposure to sports betting, but that was always also one. There were just a few categories that were kind of ephemeral in Q1 of last year that have, well, like proven ephemeral.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

We didn't know they were ephemeral in Q1. That's creating a little bit of slowness, you know, end of last year, beginning of this year. That's offset by what I referred to in the prepared comments that we had our best upfront ever and our visibility into the rest of the year is strong. What we believe is happening is that you had a bunch of companies make announcements about layoffs and things like that, and people don't tend to wanna do advertising heavily while there are layoffs. You had the companies that had the dynamics I described a moment ago. So it's a market that thinned out a little bit versus where it was a year ago.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

The laydown for 2023 is strong, and the dialogues and plans people have are strong. I guess the other thing I'd call out is the film release schedule wasn't stellar sort of late last year, early this year, and that's obviously an important category for us, particularly in a couple of our bigger markets. You know, all of those things combined make us think that what we're seeing in terms of a little bit of softness here at the beginning of the year is not gonna be how the year as a whole builds, and we guide it accordingly on that. I think, you know, our guidance truly represents the best information that we have at this moment. You know, to your question on airport segment, couple things I'd call out.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

You know, I think we've kind of mentioned this. We certainly mentioned it when we were doing our investor day in September. We are selling airports differently than we might have sold airports five years ago. We've gotten more creative in terms of looking for kind of sponsorship type. You know, think of things like naming rights kind of things. That business has gotten a lot more digital. It's gotten. You know, coming out of COVID, it's had, you know, a very strong tailwind as travel has taken off. I mean, travel's been one of our hot verticals for the last few quarters. Certainly we've seen that play through in airports.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

When I look at airports, you know, we don't really get into talking about contracts 'cause there's not. You know, kinda none of them, with the possible exception of New York, would count as material. There's kind of relatively regular ins and outs. There's nothing I'd call out in terms of our renewal schedule the next year that's gonna be meaningful. But I would note that, you know, we did just go live in Newark Terminal A, in Q1 of this year, and there's still build-out happening on the New York Port Authority contract. That still has some room to run.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

I guess I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the other big innovation that we've made, and it's been meaningful, has been doing more selling by the America sales force into the airports. We have cross-selling between the America sales force and the airports sales force, and that's gotten pretty meaningful, and that's something that, five years ago was almost, you know, negligible. I think, I think all of those things give us some room to run in terms of, you know, further growing that airports business.

Ben Swinburne
Ben Swinburne
Managing Director and Head of U.S. Media Research at Morgan Stanley

Got it. Thanks so much.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Ben.

Operator

We now turn to Steven Cahall from Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Steven Cahall
Steven Cahall
Managing Director and Senior Analyst of Media, Advertising, and Cable at Wells Fargo

Thank you. Maybe first just to go a little deeper into some of Ben's questions. You talked about there being some of these pockets of softness in the U.S. I think you said that you had fewer headwinds and an easier comp in Europe. Maybe how do we just think about within the growth guidance, whether it's for Q1 or the full year, how to think about Americas, you know, versus Europe? Could we see Europe outgrowing Americas, which is usually not the case on an organic basis? Would love to get some commentary there. And then, you know, Scott and Brian, you started giving the AFFO metric, and it would certainly seem like, you know, future potential for a restructure could create a lot of value for the company. I think debt is still the big obstacle.

Steven Cahall
Steven Cahall
Managing Director and Senior Analyst of Media, Advertising, and Cable at Wells Fargo

You know, Brian, if I maybe read into some of your comments, it sounds like you might still have some ideas of things you could do this year beyond the Switzerland divestiture to manage the balance sheet. I'm just curious what options you think you've got this year to start to shape the balance sheet to a little lower level of leverage. Thank you.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Steve. Good morning. Let me take the first part, and I'll let Brian take the second part. You know, recall that, it seems like ancient history, but Q1 of last year is when the infamous Omicron was with us, and that hit Europe considerably harder than it hit the U.S. It's just a math exercise a little bit, going on and particularly there were countries within Europe that were differentially hit with Omicron. When you think about Q1, you should probably expect that Europe will be outgrowing the U.S. Again, net of, net of currency. I mean, currency always confounds exactly how those numbers are gonna go. That's probably not an unreasonable, you know, way to think about it.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

That's actually true a little bit as you think about the full year, because obviously Q1 is part of the full year, and there are geographies in Europe that still have not fully recovered from COVID. Parts of Europe have recovered and are way ahead of 2019. Not all parts are. So, you know, there's probably a little bit of a mix toward Europe in that revenue mix. It's not massive. But, you know, we were very specific in giving consolidated guidance just because there are so many moving pieces across the portfolio. We did build it, you know, obviously, you know, kind of bottoms up. It becomes very unwieldy to try to guide in lots of little subsegments.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

That's why we did it as a whole. But hopefully that gives you a flavor for the mix. I'll hand it to Brian to address the second question.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Sure. thanks, Steve. You know, I think, yeah, I think our path to, you know, REIT optionality is both a deleveraging story and then, you know, obviously getting the size of the portfolio of REIT-able assets to the right level. The strategic review going on in Europe is obviously an important element to that. While the ultimate resolution, if it's through, you know, asset sales, is probably not directly deleveraging, at least not meaningfully so, it does carry with it reduced capital expense, simplification of the business, you know, a lowering of corporate costs. I do think visibility into the ultimate outcome there will be an important consideration as we look to other options to deliver. Other options may be needed.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

All options are on the table, but I think it'd be premature right now to really kinda dive into those. I just, you know, the company has some runway. We've got the process going on and we're gonna be open-minded about the things that we can and need to do to deliver the balance sheet. It's really that and getting the asset base in the right place, being the two, you know, two obstacles, so to speak, to putting ourselves in a position where we could eventually REIT this business.

Steven Cahall
Steven Cahall
Managing Director and Senior Analyst of Media, Advertising, and Cable at Wells Fargo

Great. Thank you.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Steve.

Operator

We now turn to Lance Vitanza from Cowen. Your line is open.

Lance Vitanza
Lance Vitanza
Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Cowen

Hi. Good morning. This is Jonathan on for Ken. My first question was really on the new segment reporting. Just curious to know, like what led to the new breakout?

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

It's a determination management makes based on really how we manage those businesses and how we allocate resources. The three elements were breaking out airports, and I think the size of that business also contributed to the decision to break that out. The second piece was the division between Europe-North and Europe South. I think, you know, the numbers kind of historically speak to the differences in those business and the logical management and differential allocation of resources. The third piece is taking Singapore, you know, out of the Europe category, putting it into other. That decision probably speaks for itself. It really is a management determination based on those criteria.

Lance Vitanza
Lance Vitanza
Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Cowen

Can we expect much rent abatement in both the Americas and Europe going forward? I know from the slide in your presentation it appeared that Europe has largely tapered off and, while there's still some in America. I kind of just wanna get a better feel for that trajectory in 23.

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Well, I, you know, you're right in that they've largely tapered off in Europe and I think that same kinda tapering off should naturally occur in the Americas. The thing I'd point out is obviously this is something that we wanna do and we will vigorously pursue opportunities where we feel it's appropriate and there's still some out there in Americas that, you know, we'll continue to pursue. They will largely, you know, continue to diminish over time.

Lance Vitanza
Lance Vitanza
Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Cowen

Okay. My last one. Just given the higher rate environment, does that necessarily trigger any change to strategic priorities given that, you know, the eventual need for a RE- to refinance at higher rates? Does that change the story at all or no?

Brian Coleman
Brian Coleman
CFO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Well, it's a significant consideration. You know, our interest expense has gone up. Maybe even more importantly, you know, the level at which, you know, you could assume refinancing to occur is probably at a higher point than it would have been, say, a year ago. It's definitely a consideration in the things we look at. It is a headwind to, you know, free cash flow generation. That all being said, we do have a runway and there are a lot of moving parts in the business right now. I wouldn't say that it necessarily has led to, you know, a change in our strategic thinking, but it certainly is an important consideration, and that we are certainly thinking about.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Yeah. I mean, I think, Jonathan, the only thing I'd add on that one is, a year ago, who would have forecast rates would be where they are right now? We are still a couple years from where we're gonna need to engage. This is a slow is smooth is fast sort of scenario to borrow from my special operations friends. We will be watching the market very carefully on this, and we'll do the appropriate action as our window, you know, approaches more closely.

Lance Vitanza
Lance Vitanza
Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Cowen

Understood. Thank you.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Jonathan.

Operator

Our next question comes from Avi Steiner from JP Morgan. Your line is open.

Avi Steiner
Avi Steiner
Managing Director at JPMorgan

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. A couple of quick ones for me. One, on the company's full year guidance, it looks like at least at the midpoint margin's slightly lower year-over-year. I just wanna make sure I understand the puts and takes from 2022. Obviously, some rent abatements being a part of the issue or less of them, I assume airports growth. I'm curious if I'm missing anything else, and I've got a couple more. Thank you.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Yeah. I think we talk about the abatements falling away, as you pointed out, the mix as airports grows. I think the other thing we've mentioned is we, you know, we have a major contract in the U.S. that has gone through a renegotiation, and that's been a little bit of a headwind. It's really those three things that are headwinds on EBITDA margins. I think you're thinking about it the right way, Avi.

Avi Steiner
Avi Steiner
Managing Director at JPMorgan

Okay. That's terrific. Then one of your peers talked about, I guess, the programmatic channel being a little bit softer. I know it's not a massive part of the business, but curious what you guys are seeing there and how you see that playing out this year.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Yeah, no question, 2022 did not have the kind of growth in programmatic that we, you know, might have anticipated for the year. As you'll see in our proxy, we actually delivered on our plans despite that. The point being the second thing you said, which is it's not, it's not that big a part of the mix. I actually would tell you the programmatic market right now is pretty solid. It's not, you know... Again, it's hard to compare a Q1 to a Q4 ever, but it certainly is showing some decent growth right now.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

you know, I don't think that we're counting on it to be a massive part of the guide that we gave, but there's no indication that it's, you know, in a bad place, I guess, is how I'd characterize it.

Avi Steiner
Avi Steiner
Managing Director at JPMorgan

Great. Last one for me, and thank you for the time. Use of proceeds from the Switzerland sale, recognizing you can reinvest that in the business. I'm just curious if we should ultimately be thinking about it as targeting the CCI BV notes and future asset sales out of that entity. Thank you again.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Yeah. I think we're planning to reinvest those proceeds in the business, which is permitted under the various bond indentures, including the CCIBV indentures, how that will free up cash flow from the European operations that would have otherwise been used to fund those investments. I think right now, given the kind of the current environment, we'll probably, you know, bolster liquidity with those proceeds, with that cash that isn't otherwise used once the sale of Switzerland occurs and is completed. That could change over time and, you know, they'll be available to use throughout Europe for additional reinvestment and other things, including debt repurchases of the CCIBV notes. It's probably premature really to go there yet.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

I think right now it's liquidity optimization once the deal actually closes.

Avi Steiner
Avi Steiner
Managing Director at JPMorgan

Thank you very much.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Avi.

Operator

Our next question comes from Richard Choe from JP Morgan. Your line is open.

Richard Choe
Richard Choe
VP and Executive Director at JPMorgan

Hi. I just wanted to ask, for the guidance, should airports be up for the year and then, digital to be up and non-digital to be flat? Is that kinda implied in the guidance?

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Yeah, we provide consolidated guidance, Richard Choe, but we don't really break it out. You know, I think airports is performing well. As Scott Wells previously mentioned, there's still some room to run in airports. I think we will, you know, we're positive on that business. I don't know, Scott Wells, about the digital, non-digital color going forward, if there's anything to say to that. Just on the dynamic, I mean, you've seen a steady and increasing rapidity of our business becoming more digital over time. You see the penetration. I think the reporting will be illuminating to some folks on how penetrated some parts of the portfolio are of digital.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

You know, airports in Northern Europe being particular standouts in that category. Yeah, digital is a growth part of the story. We've been pleased by how our non-digital has held up. Much of the 2022 performance in the non-digital was kinda category-driven by some of the mix shift we had in our advertiser base. You know, that should sort of wash out as we get into 2023. I don't... I think our consolidated guidance is our consolidated guidance, just trying to give you some color on some of the underlying dynamics.

Richard Choe
Richard Choe
VP and Executive Director at JPMorgan

Got it. Thank you. Then in Europe, is there more room to rebound in Southern Europe than Northern Europe? How should we think about the two for the year? Not trying to get guidance, but just in terms of opportunity versus last year.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Yeah, I mean, it's interesting as you think about rebound. I think in general, yes, would be the answer to that question. You know, there are some contract puts and takes. You know, that's always a dynamic within Europe, and I think we called a couple of them out in the comments in terms of where things are. Yeah, in general, Southern Europe has recovered more slowly from COVID, and that should have, you know, an opportunity in those markets this year.

Richard Choe
Richard Choe
VP and Executive Director at JPMorgan

Great. Thank you.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Richard.

Operator

As a reminder to ask any further questions, please press star one on your telephone keypad now. We now turn to Jim Goss from Barrington Research. Your line is open.

Jim Goss
Jim Goss
VP and Senior Investment Analyst at Barrington Research

Thank you. Regarding the split of north and south for Europe, is this because of geographic operating similarities, or does it have any implications as to how you might decide to market the properties as you do this evaluation and increase the core of U.S.?

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Yeah. Jim, you know, the decision to have this segmentation is really driven by accounting considerations and the way we manage the business. That is true. Now, you know, part of that differentiation in management and differentiation in the allocation of resources can be tied to other things. you know, the largely... by the way, I think the segment reporting and the difference, particularly in Europe between the north and the south, gives some color into the different operating characteristics in those different regions. It really is one of how we manage the business, who manages the business, what kind of resources we allocate to those businesses, that drives the segment reporting, not, you know, what you're targeting for sale or not. Hopefully that helps.

Jim Goss
Jim Goss
VP and Senior Investment Analyst at Barrington Research

Okay. Yes. You just mentioned airports in Northern Europe as a standout in terms of digital. You have roughly 42% of revenues both in U.S. and Europe accounted for or contributed by digital. I wonder, is that pretty consistent by geography and category, or how does that drive your expansion opportunity as you're allocating capital?

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Digital is very different by geography, by contract, by sort of situation. We do believe that, you know, ongoing digitization of this business is an opportunity. You know, we are very penetrated in digital in the U.K. You know, airports has become increasingly digital, and as you get into, you know, newer airports, they're increasingly digital too. Kind of as you refresh contracts in, you know, any of those places, you're gonna see digital, you know, on the expansion. Obviously, in the America business, that's where the big regulatory constraint is. Some of the countries in Europe, there are regulatory constraints on being able to do digital.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

We're finding over time, as more and more places have the experience that airports in the U.K. are having, that we're able to increase usage of digital. Clients do really like the immediacy of it. They like the flexibility of it. They like the creativity of it. The ability to, you know, day part, messages to have a different message in the morning than the afternoon, those sort of things. The features of it, we think, are things that the customers like. We're gonna continue to go in that direction as we can. It is very different by geography, and there's not kind of an easy summary way to give you an answer to what I think you're going for in the question.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

It is definitely different by geography.

Jim Goss
Jim Goss
VP and Senior Investment Analyst at Barrington Research

Okay. Thanks.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Jim.

Operator

Our next question comes from Jason Bazinet from Citi. Your line is open.

Jason Bazinet
Jason Bazinet
Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Citi

I just had a quick question on organic growth, both for last year and what sort of organic growth is embedded in your guidance for this year. In particular, I was just interested in how, if at all, inflation, you know, both last year and your expectations this year sort of influence your ability to take rate and influence the organic growth expectation.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Jason. We absolutely saw, you know, a strong rate environment and, frankly continue to see a good rate environment. Again, where there's softness, it's a little bit idiosyncratic right now. It's not widespread. You think about the... You know, one of the drivers of the really strong upfront that we've talked about is that we have been seeing, you know, good rate increases. It's not as simple as just inflation, but that certainly makes it a little bit easier of a conversation.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

You know, obviously, the transition from COVID environment to the environment we were in kind of second half 2021, first half 2022, to what I'd characterize as us, you know, approaching a more, "regular." Regular is a dangerous word, but we're getting into more of a regular trading environment. You know, rate increases will probably be more challenging over time as we see that. Because it's just not as straightforward as just, you know, inflation is X, so therefore rate's going up Y. There's a lot of segmentation of our assets in terms of location, you know, and it has been a very premium market in terms of advertisers looking for the very best locations, and that creates a rate.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

I guess what I'd tell you is that we are very focused on rate. We look to. We're very focused on yield, rate being an important part of generating yield. We expect that we will continue to be able to drive yield, you know, in 2023. Hopefully, that gives you something. I'm not sure if that was the exact spirit of your question.

Jason Bazinet
Jason Bazinet
Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Citi

Yeah. It seemed like you guys had, I mean, the industry, I felt like, had pretty good pricing power, but it sounds like that's gonna moderate a bit, but you're still gonna be able to generate organic growth, I guess is the takeaway for 2023.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Yeah. I mean, I at least think of our digital conversions as organic growth too, because it's not, it's not acquisitions, and the paybacks are very attractive. The growth doesn't just come from rate, I guess, is the point I'd make to you.

Jason Bazinet
Jason Bazinet
Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Citi

Understood. Okay. Thank you.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Thanks, Jason.

Operator

This concludes our Q&A, and I'll hand back to Scott Wells, CEO, for any closing remarks.

Scott Wells
Scott Wells
CEO at Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Great. Thank you very much. We appreciate you all joining our call today. We do feel good about the year that lies ahead and are optimistic and look forward to updating you as the year develops on the various strategic initiatives and operating initiatives that we touched on. Have a great day.

Operator

Today's call has now concluded. Participation, you may now disconnect your lines.

Executives
    • Brian Coleman
      Brian Coleman
      CFO
    • Eileen McLaughlin
      Eileen McLaughlin
      VP of Investor Relations
    • Scott Wells
      Scott Wells
      CEO
Analysts
    • Avi Steiner
      Managing Director at JPMorgan
    • Ben Swinburne
      Managing Director and Head of U.S. Media Research at Morgan Stanley
    • Jason Bazinet
      Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Citi
    • Jim Goss
      VP and Senior Investment Analyst at Barrington Research
    • Lance Vitanza
      Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Cowen
    • Richard Choe
      VP and Executive Director at JPMorgan
    • Steven Cahall
      Managing Director and Senior Analyst of Media, Advertising, and Cable at Wells Fargo
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