Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) Q1 2022 Earnings Conference Call May 5, 2022 9:00 AM ET
Company Participants
Sean Reilly - President and CEO
Jay Johnson - EVP and CFO
Conference Call Participants
Ben Swinburne - Morgan Stanley
Richard Choe - JPMorgan
Operator
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 in effects of the COVID 19 pandemic 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 2022 earnings release. And its most recent annual report on Form 10-K. Lamar refers you to those documents.
Lamar's first quarter 2022 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
Thanks Bobby. Good morning all and welcome to Lamar’s Q1 2022 earnings call. The year is off to an excellent start. Our ability to reach audiences on-the-go with powerful messages at competitive rates is clearly resonating with advertisers. As a result, the trends we have seen since the rebound from COVID began tightening inventory, better pricing, and a real appetite for our digital platform, have continued.
Our first quarter revenues were ahead of expectations, with strength across nearly every top category and all geographies. Billboard revenues increased more than 17% on an acquisition adjusted basis, with our transit and airport businesses improving even better.
While expense growth was elevated for the reasons we noted in our fourth quarter call, both our adjusted EBITDA and AFFO grew more than 25% in the quarter, both adjusted EBITDA and AFFO per share we're well ahead of pre-pandemic levels.