Lamar Advertising Company (NASDAQ:LAMR) Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call February 23, 2024 9:00 AM ET

Company Participants

Sean Reilly - President and CEO

Jay Johnson - Treasurer and CFO

Conference Call Participants

Cameron McVeigh - Morgan Stanley

Jason Bazinet - Citi

Richard Choe - JPMorgan

Operator

Excuse me, everyone, we now have Sean Reilly and Jay Johnson in conference. [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, objectives, including with respect to the amount and timing of any distributions to stockholders and the impacts and effects of general economic conditions of 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 also identified important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in this call in the company's fourth quarter 2023 earnings release and its most recent annual report on the Form 10-K. Lamar refers you to those documents. Lamar's fourth quarter 2023 earnings release, which contains information required by the 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, Savannah, and good morning, all, and welcome to Lamar's Q4 2023 earnings call.

I would characterize 2023 as solid, while on the whole, revenue growth was not what we hoped it would be. As a company, we successfully navigated an uncertain macro environment and a recession in national ad spend, and we ended the year with encouraging momentum on the sales front. Meanwhile, our local managers controlled expenses incredibly well throughout the year, helping us to set another company record for adjusted EBITDA margin at 46.7%. I could not be prouder of our team for how they distinguish themselves in 2023.

For the fourth quarter, revenue grew 2.5% on an acquisition-adjusted basis, accelerating each month with pro forma growth of 4% in December, our strongest year-over-year result for any month in 2023. Expenses, meanwhile, were basically flat for the quarter on an acquisition-adjusted basis. That translated into EBITDA growth of 5.1%, again on an acquisition-adjusted basis and an EBITDA margin of 48.2% for the quarter.