Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 4, 2023 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Sean Reilly - Chief Executive Officer

Jay Johnson - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Jason Bazinet - Citi

Cameron McVeigh - Morgan Stanley

Richard Choe - JPMorgan

Operator

Please standby, your program is about to begin. Excuse me, everyone, we now have Sean Reilly and Jay Johnson in conference. Please be aware that each of your lines is in a listen-only mode. At the conclusion of the Company's presentation, we will open the floor for questions. [Operator Instructions].

In the course of this discussion, Lamar may make forward-looking statements regarding the company, including statements about its future 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 first quarter 2023 earnings release and its most important -- and its most recent annual report on Form 10-K. Lamar refers you to those documents.

Lamar's first quarter 2023 earnings release, which contains information required by Regulation G regarding certain non-GAAP financial measures, was furnished to the SEC on a 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, Nicky. Good morning all, and welcome to Lamar's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. I'm quite proud of how our business in general and our industry have performed in what remains a challenging operating environment for media owners generally. Our first quarter unfolded largely as we expected, with consolidated revenue, expenses and adjusted EBITDA, all up slightly on an acquisition-adjusted basis. Strength in local sales offset weakness in national, particularly early in the quarter. .

Activity in Q1, RFPs and buys from national customers picked up as the quarter went on and the tone from local customers remains largely constructive. However, as mentioned in the release, April saw some slight softening. May and June seemed to have firmed up, so Q2 should be fine. Meanwhile, we feel really good about the trajectory of full year expenses. And given that, we continue to pace towards the middle of our previously provided full year AFFO guidance range.