Lamar Advertising Co (NASDAQ:LAMR) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call August 3, 2023 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Sean Reilly - CEO & President

Jay Johnson - EVP, CFO & Treasurer

Conference Call Participants

Benjamin Swinburne - Morgan Stanley

Jason Bazinet - Citigroup

Richard Choe - JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Avraham Steiner - JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Operator

Excuse me, everyone. We now have Sean Reilly and Jay Johnson [Operator Instructions].

In the course of this discussion, Lamar may make forward-looking statements regarding the company, including statements about its financial performance, strategic goals, plans and objectives, including with respect to the amount and timing of any distributions to stockholders and the impacts and effects of general economic conditions, including inflationary pressures on the company's business, financial condition and results of operations.

All forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond Lamar's control and which may cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results. Lamar has identified important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in this call in the company's second quarter 2023 earnings release and its most recent annual report on Form 10-K. Lamar refers you to those documents.

Lamar's second quarter 2023 earnings release, which contains information required by Regulation G regarding certain non-GAAP financial measures was furnished to the SEC on Form 8-K this morning and is available on the Investors Section of Lamar's website www.lamar.com.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Sean Reilly. Mr. Reilly, you may begin.

Sean Reilly

Thank you, Britney. Good morning all, and welcome to Lamar's Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. We had a solid second quarter with revenue growth that accelerated on an acquisition-adjusted basis from Q1 and good discipline on the expense side. That combination translated into growth in adjusted EBITDA on an acquisition-adjusted basis of just shy of 3%, also an improvement from Q1.

Revenue for each of our businesses, billboards logos, transit and airports was up in the quarter. Unfortunately, as we turn the corner into Q3, we observed a slowdown in activity. There is more hesitation on the part of customers to pull the trigger on renewals and new contracts. As we booked fewer dollars, that hurt not just the current month, but also rippled through the balance of the year. That softening combined with weak results from the programmatic channel mean that the top line is not shaping up as we anticipated it would for the second half of 2023.