SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCO) (the "Company") today reported financial results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2023.

"Our fourth quarter consolidated revenue of $632.1 million increased 12.4%, or 10.8% excluding movements in foreign exchange rates, reflecting improving business trends and solid execution from our operating team. The Airports and Europe-North segments both performed very strongly, while the America segment returned to growth in the quarter. We see those trends continuing with the America segment, in particular, accelerating into the new year," said Scott Wells, Chief Executive Officer of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. "We are delivering on our strategic roadmap to transform into a technology-fueled, visual media powerhouse reaching a growing audience.

"In the year ahead, we remain focused on driving our key initiatives to focus our organization on our higher-margin U.S. markets. The sale process of our Europe-North segment is ongoing, and we have initiated a sale process for our Latin American businesses. We are also evaluating paths to optimize our cost structure, while strategically investing in our technology and digital infrastructure. We believe these efforts will increase operating leverage in our business and enhance our ability to organically grow Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. These efforts all reflect our priority to reduce leverage over the next few years.

"The out-of-home industry is forecasted to deliver healthy growth in 2024, and we are optimistic about our outlook given the improving climate in our largest markets and the strength of our Airports segment, coupled with the investments we have made to expand the range of advertisers we serve. We remain committed to maintaining ample liquidity on our balance sheet and operating in a disciplined manner."

Financial Highlights:

Financial highlights for the fourth quarter of 2023 as compared to the same period of 2022, including financial highlights excluding movements in foreign exchange rates ("FX")¹:

Dispositions and Discontinued Operations:

During the first three quarters of 2023, we sold our businesses in Switzerland and Italy (on March 31 and May 31, respectively) for aggregate cash proceeds, net of direct costs to transact the sales and cash sold, of $89.2 million. In May 2023, we also entered into an agreement to sell our business in Spain for cash consideration of approximately $64.3 million. This transaction is expected to close in 2024, upon satisfaction of regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. We are using the net proceeds from these sales, after payment of transaction-related fees and expenses, to improve liquidity and increase financial flexibility of the business as permitted under our debt agreements.

On October 31, 2023, we sold our business in France to Equinox Industries ("Equinox"). We delivered our business in France to Equinox with $44.5 million of cash, subject to adjustment for related customary items, tax and other costs, to support ongoing operations of the business, and Equinox assumed the $29.7 million state-guaranteed loan held by Clear Channel France. In December 2023, Equinox repaid us $4.9 million to satisfy certain post-closing obligations. Additionally, we incurred certain direct costs to transact the sale. In total, cash delivered to the buyer (net of the repayment) and payment of these additional direct costs was $43.0 million, with an additional $0.8 million of accrued direct costs to be paid in 2024.

During 2023, our plan to sell these businesses (collectively comprising our entire Europe-South segment) met the criteria to be reported as discontinued operations. As a result, each of the Europe-South segment businesses has been reclassified to discontinued operations in our financial statements for all periods presented, resulting in changes to the presentation of certain amounts for prior periods. The discussion in this earnings release presents the results of continuing operations and excludes amounts related to discontinued operations for all periods presented, unless otherwise noted.

International Sales Processes:

We have initiated processes to sell the businesses in our Europe-North segment and in Latin America. There can be no assurance that these processes will result in any additional transactions or particular outcomes. We have not set a timetable for completion of these processes, may suspend the processes at any time and do not intend to make further announcements regarding the processes unless and until our Board approves a course of action for which further disclosure is appropriate.

Guidance:

Our expectations for the first quarter and full year of 2024 are as follows:

 

 

Expected results and estimates may be impacted by factors outside of the Company's control, and actual results may be materially different from this guidance. See "Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements" herein.

Results:

Results provided herein exclude amounts related to discontinued operations for all periods presented.

Revenue:

 

Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2023, as compared to the same period of 2022:

America: Revenue up 0.5%:

• Billboards revenue up driven by digital deployments and programmatic growth
• Digital revenue up 2.4% to $114.0 million from $111.3 million
• National sales comprised 37.1% of America revenue, compared to 36.7% in the prior year

Airports: Revenue up 44.3%:

• Revenue up across most airports and verticals; increased demand and continued investment in digital infrastructure
• Digital revenue up 57.9% to $73.1 million from $46.3 million
• National sales comprised 58.9% of Airports revenue, compared to 56.0% in the prior year

Europe-North: Revenue up 17.8%; excluding movements in FX, up 13.4%:

• Revenue up across all products and countries, most notably the U.K. and Belgium, driven by increased demand, deployment of additional digital displays and new contracts
• Digital revenue up 22.9% to $109.7 million from $89.2 million; digital revenue, excluding movements in FX, up 17.9% to $105.2 million

Other: Revenue up 20.9%; excluding movements in FX, up 13.8%:

• Higher revenue in Brazil and Mexico

Direct Operating and SG&A Expenses¹:

 

Direct operating and SG&A expenses for the fourth quarter of 2023, as compared to the same period of 2022:

America: Direct operating and SG&A expenses up 0.4%:

• Site lease expense up 2.1% to $89.5 million from $87.7 million driven by lower rent abatements
• Offset by lower property taxes related to a legal settlement, maintenance costs and credit loss expense

Airports: Direct operating and SG&A expenses up 44.8%:

• Site lease expense up 46.4% to $64.9 million from $44.3 million driven by higher revenue
• Higher variable incentive compensation costs

Europe-North: Direct operating and SG&A expenses up 19.0%; excluding movements in FX, up 14.5%:

• Site lease expense up 15.7% to $63.5 million from $54.9 million; site lease expense, excluding movements in FX, up 12.0% to $61.5 million driven by higher revenue
• Higher property taxes and compensation costs

Other: Direct operating and SG&A expenses up 28.1%; excluding movements in FX, up 21.2%:

• Higher site lease expense driven by lower rent abatements and higher revenue
• Restructuring costs to reduce scale of Singapore business following loss of contract

Corporate Expenses¹:

 

Corporate expenses for the fourth quarter of 2023, as compared to the same period of 2022, up 11.3%; excluding movements in FX, up 9.7%, driven by higher employee compensation costs.

Income (Loss) from Continuing Operations:

Adjusted EBITDA¹:

 

AFFO¹:

Capital Expenditures:

Markets and Displays:

As of December 31, 2023, we operated more than 325,000 print and digital out-of-home advertising displays in 19 countries as part of our continuing operations, with the majority of our revenue generated by operations in the U.S. and Europe. As of December 31, 2023, we had presence in 84 Designated Market Areas ("DMAs") in the U.S., including 43 of the top 50 U.S. markets, and in 12 countries throughout Europe, excluding markets that are considered discontinued operations.

Clear Channel International B.V.

Clear Channel International B.V. ("CCIBV"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company and the issuer of our 6.625% Senior Secured Notes due 2025 (the "CCIBV Senior Secured Notes"), includes the operations of our Europe-North and Europe-South segments, as well as Singapore, which is included in "Other." The financial results of Singapore are immaterial to the results of CCIBV. Revenue and the scale of the Company's business in Singapore will be reduced in 2024 due to the loss of a contract, which terminated on December 31, 2023.

As the businesses in the Europe-South segment are considered discontinued operations, results of these businesses are now reported as a separate component of Consolidated net income (loss) in the CCIBV Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss) for all periods presented and are excluded from the discussion below.

CCIBV results from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of 2023 as compared to the same period of 2022 are as follows:

• CCIBV revenue increased 17.0% to $198.1 million from $169.3 million. Excluding the $7.4 million impact of movements in FX, CCIBV revenue increased 12.6% driven by higher revenue in our Europe-North segment, as described in the above "Results" section of this earnings release. Singapore represented approximately 3% of CCIBV revenue from continuing operations for the three months ended December 31, 2023.
• CCIBV operating income was $31.2 million compared to $22.1 million in the same period of 2022.

Liquidity and Financial Position:

Cash and Cash Equivalents:

As of December 31, 2023, we had $251.7 million of cash on our balance sheet, including $84.3 million of cash held outside the U.S. (excludes cash held by our business in Spain, which is discontinued operations).

The following table summarizes our cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2023 on a consolidated basis, including both continuing and discontinued operations:

Debt:

We anticipate having cash interest payment obligations of approximately $448 million in 2024 and $408 million in 2025, assuming that we do not refinance or incur additional debt. The expected increase in cash interest payments in 2024 is largely due to differences in the timing of interest payments between the newly-issued CCOH 9.000% Senior Notes and the refinanced portion of the Term Loan.

Our next debt maturity is in August 2025 when the CCIBV Senior Secured Notes become due. Please refer to Table 3 in this earnings release for additional detail regarding our outstanding debt balance.

 

 

 

Supplemental Disclosures:

Reportable Segments and Segment Adjusted EBITDA

The Company has four reportable segments, which it believes best reflect how the Company is currently managed: America, which consists of the Company's U.S. operations excluding airports; Airports, which includes revenue from U.S. and Caribbean airports; Europe-North, which consists of operations in the U.K., the Nordics and several other countries throughout northern and central Europe; and Europe-South, which consists of operations in Spain, and prior to their sales on March 31, 2023, May 31, 2023 and October 31, 2023, respectively, Switzerland, Italy and France. The Company's remaining operations in Latin America and Singapore are disclosed as "Other." As described in the "Dispositions and Discontinued Operations" section of this earnings release, the Company's Europe-South segment met the criteria to be reported as discontinued operations during 2023. As such, results of this segment are excluded from this earnings release, which only reflects continuing operations, for all periods presented.

Segment Adjusted EBITDA is the profitability metric reported to the Company's chief operating decision maker for purposes of making decisions about allocation of resources to, and assessing performance of, each reportable segment. Segment Adjusted EBITDA is a GAAP financial measure that is calculated as Revenue less Direct operating expenses and SG&A expenses, excluding restructuring and other costs. Restructuring and other costs include costs associated with cost savings initiatives such as severance, consulting and termination costs and other special costs.

Non-GAAP Financial Information

This earnings release includes information that does not conform to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), including Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Corporate expenses, Funds From Operations ("FFO") and Adjusted Funds From Operations ("AFFO"). The Company presents this information because the Company believes these non-GAAP measures help investors better understand the Company's operating performance as compared to other out-of-home advertisers, and these metrics are widely used by such companies in practice. Please refer to the reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures below.

The Company defines, and uses, these non-GAAP financial measures as follows:

• Adjusted EBITDA is defined as income (loss) from continuing operations, plus: income tax expense (benefit) attributable to continuing operations; all non-operating expenses (income), including other expense (income), gain on extinguishment of debt and interest expense, net; other operating expense (income), net; depreciation, amortization and impairment charges; share-based compensation expense included within corporate expenses; and restructuring and other costs included within operating expenses. Restructuring and other costs include costs associated with cost savings initiatives such as severance, consulting and termination costs and other special costs.
  
  The Company uses Adjusted EBITDA as one of the primary measures for the planning and forecasting of future periods, as well as for measuring performance for compensation of Company executives and other members of Company management. The Company believes Adjusted EBITDA is useful for investors because it allows investors to view performance in a manner similar to the method used by Company management and helps improve investors' ability to understand the Company's operating performance, making it easier to compare the Company's results with other companies that have different capital structures or tax rates. In addition, the Company believes Adjusted EBITDA is among the primary measures used externally by the Company's investors, analysts and peers in its industry for purposes of valuation and comparing the operating performance of the Company to other companies in its industry.
  
  
• As part of the calculation of Adjusted EBITDA, the Company also presents the non-GAAP financial measure of "Adjusted Corporate expenses," which the Company defines as corporate expenses excluding share-based compensation expense and restructuring and other costs.
  
  
• The Company uses the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts ("Nareit") definition of FFO, which is consolidated net income (loss) before: depreciation, amortization and impairment of real estate; gains or losses from the disposition of real estate; and adjustments to eliminate unconsolidated affiliates and noncontrolling interests. The Company defines AFFO as FFO excluding discontinued operations and before the following adjustments for continuing operations: maintenance capital expenditures; straight-line rent effects; depreciation, amortization and impairment of non-real estate; amortization of deferred financing costs and discounts; share-based compensation expense; deferred taxes; restructuring and other costs; transaction costs; foreign exchange transaction gain or loss; non-service related pension costs or benefits; and other items, including adjustment for unconsolidated affiliates and noncontrolling interest and nonrecurring infrequent or unusual gains or losses.
  
  The Company is not a Real Estate Investment Trust ("REIT"). However, the Company competes directly with REITs that present the non-GAAP measures of FFO and AFFO and, accordingly, believes that presenting such measures will be helpful to investors in evaluating the Company's operations with the same terms used by the Company's direct competitors. The Company calculates FFO in accordance with the definition adopted by Nareit. Nareit does not restrict presentation of non-GAAP measures traditionally presented by REITs by entities that are not REITs. In addition, the Company believes FFO and AFFO are already among the primary measures used externally by the Company's investors, analysts and competitors in its industry for purposes of valuation and comparing the operating performance of the Company to other companies in its industry. The Company does not use, and you should not use, FFO and AFFO as an indication of the Company's ability to fund its cash needs or pay dividends or make other distributions. Because the Company is not a REIT, the Company does not have an obligation to pay dividends or make distributions to stockholders and does not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future. Moreover, the presentation of these measures should not be construed as an indication that the Company is currently in a position to convert into a REIT.

A significant portion of the Company's advertising operations is conducted in foreign markets, principally Europe, and Company management reviews the results from its foreign operations on a constant dollar basis. The Company presents the GAAP measures of revenue, direct operating and SG&A expenses, corporate expenses and Segment Adjusted EBITDA, as well as the non-GAAP financial measures of Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted Corporate expenses, FFO and AFFO, excluding movements in foreign exchange rates because Company management believes that viewing certain financial results without the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency rates facilitates period-to-period comparisons of business performance and provides useful information to investors. These measures, which exclude the effects of foreign exchange rates, are calculated by converting the current period's amounts in local currency to U.S. dollars using average monthly foreign exchange rates for the same period of the prior year.

Since these non-GAAP financial measures are not calculated in accordance with GAAP, they should not be considered in isolation of, or as a substitute for, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures as an indicator of operating performance or, in the case of Adjusted EBITDA, FFO and AFFO, the Company's ability to fund its cash needs. In addition, these measures may not be comparable to similar measures provided by other companies. See reconciliations of loss from continuing operations to Adjusted EBITDA, corporate expenses to Adjusted Corporate expenses, and consolidated net loss to FFO and AFFO in the tables set forth below. This data should be read in conjunction with the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks, which are available on the Investor Relations page of the Company's website at investor.clearchannel.com.

 

 

 

 

Conference Call

The Company will host a conference call to discuss these results on February 26, 2024 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference call number is 866-424-2432 (U.S. callers) or +1 215-268-9862 (international callers). A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available on the "Events and Presentations" section of the Company's investor website (investor.clearchannel.com). A replay of the webcast will be available after the live conference call on the "Events and Presentations" section of the Company's investor website.

About Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.

Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CCO) is at the forefront of driving innovation in the out-of-home advertising industry. Our dynamic advertising platform is broadening the pool of advertisers using our medium through the expansion of digital billboards and displays and the integration of data analytics and programmatic capabilities that deliver measurable campaigns that are simpler to buy. By leveraging the scale, reach and flexibility of our diverse portfolio of assets, we connect advertisers with millions of consumers every month across more than 325,000 print and digital displays in 19 countries, excluding businesses held for sale.

For further information, please contact:

Investors:
Eileen McLaughlin 
Vice President - Investor Relations 
(646) 355-2399
InvestorRelations@clearchannel.com 

Cautionary Statement Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this earnings release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the "Company") to be materially different from any future results, performance, achievements, guidance, goals and/or targets expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The words "guidance," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "goals," "targets" and similar words and expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, such as statements about our guidance, outlook, long-term forecast, goals or targets; our business plans and strategies; our expectations about the timing, closing, satisfaction of closing conditions, use of proceeds and benefits of the sales of our European businesses as well as expectations about certain markets and strategic review processes; industry and market trends; and our liquidity, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control and are difficult to predict.

Various risks that could cause future results to differ from those expressed by the forward-looking statements included in this earnings release include, but are not limited to: continued economic uncertainty, an economic slowdown or a recession; our ability to service our debt obligations and to fund our operations, business strategy and capital expenditures; the impact of our substantial indebtedness, including the effect of our leverage on our financial position and earnings; the difficulty, cost and time required to implement our strategy, including optimizing our portfolio, and the fact that we may not realize the anticipated benefits therefrom; our ability to obtain and renew key contracts with municipalities, transit authorities and private landlords; competition; regulations and consumer concerns regarding privacy, digital services, data protection and the use of artificial intelligence; a breach of our information security measures; legislative or regulatory requirements; restrictions on out-of-home advertising of certain products; environmental, health, safety and land use laws and regulations, as well as various actual and proposed environmental, social and governance policies, regulations and disclosure standards; the impact of the processes to sell the businesses in our Europe-North segment and in Latin America; the impact of the recent dispositions or agreements to dispose of the businesses in our Europe-South segment and the potential dispositions of our other international businesses, as well as other strategic transactions or acquisitions; third-party claims of intellectual property infringement, misappropriation or other violation against us or our suppliers; risks of doing business in foreign countries; fluctuations in exchange rates and currency values; volatility of our stock price; the impacts on our stock price as a result of future sales of common stock, or the perception thereof, and dilution resulting from additional capital raised through the sale of common stock or other equity-linked instruments; our ability to continue to comply with the applicable listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange; the restrictions contained in the agreements governing our indebtedness limiting our flexibility in operating our business; the effect of analyst or credit ratings downgrades; our dependence on our management team and other key individuals; continued scrutiny and changing expectations from investors, lenders, customers, government regulators, municipalities, activists and other stakeholders; and certain other factors set forth in our filings with the SEC. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date stated, or if no date is stated, as of the date of this earnings release. Other key risks are described in the section entitled "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of the Company's reports filed with the SEC, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023. The Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements because of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

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SOURCE Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc.