Lamar Advertising Company Announces First Quarter Ended March 31, 2021 Operating Results
- Net revenue was $370.9 million
- Net income was $38.3 million
- Adjusted EBITDA was $152.4 million
“The advertising rebound is well underway," Lamar chief executive Sean Reilly said. "Both local and national sales activity have accelerated, with digital showing particular strength. In fact, bookings in March and April for the rest of 2021 handily exceeded bookings in the same months of 2019 for the rest of that year. As a result, we are raising our previously provided guidance for full year diluted AFFO per share to a range of $5.40 to $5.60.”
First Quarter Highlights
- Total operating expenses decreased 9.0%
- Adjusted EBITDA margin of 41.1%
- Free cash flow increased 10.6%
- Diluted AFFO per share increased 2.7%
Lamar reported net revenues of $370.9 million for the first quarter of 2021 versus $406.6 million for the first quarter of 2020, an 8.8% decrease. Operating income for the first quarter of 2021 decreased $7.6 million to $88.9 million as compared to $96.6 million for the same period in 2020. Lamar recognized net income of $38.3 million for the first quarter of 2021 as compared to net income of $40.5 million for same period in 2020, a decrease of $2.2 million. Net income per diluted share was $0.38 and $0.40 for the three months ended March 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2021 was $152.4 million versus $159.8 million for the first quarter of 2020, a decrease of 4.6%.
Cash flow provided by operating activities was $83.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2021, an increase of $20.4 million as compared to the same period in 2020. Free cash flow for the first quarter of 2021 was $107.4 million as compared to $97.1 million for the same period in 2020, a 10.6% increase.
For the first quarter of 2021, funds from operations, or FFO, was $96.1 million versus $97.6 million for the same period in 2020, a decrease of 1.5%. Adjusted funds from operations, or AFFO, for the first quarter of 2021 was $116.7 million compared to $113.3 million for the same period in 2020, an increase of 3.0%. Diluted AFFO per share increased 2.7% to $1.15 for the three months ended March 31, 2021 as compared to $1.12 for the same period in 2020.
Acquisition-Adjusted Three Months Results
Acquisition-adjusted net revenue for the first quarter of 2021 decreased 8.2% over acquisition-adjusted net revenue for the first quarter of 2020. Acquisition-adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2021 decreased 4.5% as compared to acquisition-adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2020. Acquisition-adjusted net revenue and acquisition-adjusted EBITDA include adjustments to the 2020 period for acquisitions and divestitures for the same time frame as actually owned in the 2021 period. See “Reconciliation of Reported Basis to Acquisition-Adjusted Results”, which provides reconciliations to GAAP for acquisition-adjusted measures.
Liquidity
As of March 31, 2021, Lamar had $765.1 million in total liquidity that consisted of $710.6 million available for borrowing under its revolving senior credit facility, $11.4 million available under the Accounts Receivable Securitization Program and approximately $43.0 million in cash and cash equivalents. There was $25.0 million and $155.0 million in borrowings outstanding under each of the Company’s revolving credit facility and Accounts Receivable Securitization Program as of March 31, 2021, respectively.
Recent Developments and COVID-19 Update
On January 22, 2021, Lamar Media Corp., the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, completed an institutional private placement of $550.0 million aggregate principal amount of 3 5/8% Notes due 2031 (the “3 5/8% Senior Notes”). The institutional private placement resulted in proceeds of approximately $542.5 million which were used, together with cash on hand and borrowings under the revolving credit facility and Accounts Receivable Securitization Program, to redeem in full all of our $650.0 million in aggregate principal outstanding 5 3/4% Senior Notes due 2026 on February 3, 2021.
On February 25, 2021, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.75 per common share, paid on March 31, 2021. Subject to approval by the Board of Directors, we expect our aggregate distributions to stockholders for 2021, including the dividend paid on March 31, 2021, will total $3.00 per common share.
On April 6, 2021, Lamar Partnering Corporation (“LPC”), a newly formed special purpose acquisition company and indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, filed a Registration Statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. LPC’s proposed public offering is expected to have a base offering size of $300.0 million, or up to $345.0 million if the underwriters’ over-allotment is exercised in full. Lamar, through an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary, would own approximately 20% of LPC’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares upon the consummation of the offering. The Company intends to commit to acquire up to $100.0 million of forward purchase units in a forward purchase agreement that would close concurrently with LPC’s consummation of an initial business combination.
Lamar continues to actively monitor the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business, employees and the business of our advertisers. We observed an improvement in our customer activity beginning in June 2020 and through March 2021. However, we cannot predict the pace or strength of the ongoing recovery on the overall economy and our advertisers. The cost savings and liquidity measures taken by management in 2020 and 2021 have resulted in continued savings and additional liquidity in 2021. As we continue to actively monitor the situation, we may take further actions to alter our business operations as may be required by federal, state or local authorities, or that we determine are in the best interest of our employees, customers, partners and shareholders.
Revised Guidance
We are updating our 2021 guidance issued in February 2021 to reflect our expected continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic during 2021. We now expect net income per diluted share for fiscal year 2021 to be between $2.96 and $3.12, with diluted AFFO per share between $5.40 and $5.60. See “Supplemental Schedules Unaudited REIT Measures and Reconciliations to GAAP Measures” for reconciliation to GAAP.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding sales trends. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among others: (1) our significant indebtedness; (2) the severity and duration of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and its impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations; (3) the state of the economy and financial markets generally, including the impact caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the effect of the broader economy on the demand for advertising; (4) the continued popularity of outdoor advertising as an advertising medium; (5) our need for and ability to obtain additional funding for operations, debt refinancing or acquisitions; (6) our ability to continue to qualify as a Real Estate Investment Trust (“REIT”) and maintain our status as a REIT; (7) the regulation of the outdoor advertising industry by federal, state and local governments; (8) the integration of companies and assets that we acquire and our ability to recognize cost savings or operating efficiencies as a result of these acquisitions; (9) changes in accounting principles, policies or guidelines; (10) changes in tax laws applicable to REITs or in the interpretation of those laws; (11) our ability to renew expiring contracts at favorable rates; (12) our ability to successfully implement our digital deployment strategy; and (13) the market for our Class A common stock. For additional information regarding factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in our forward-looking statements, we refer you to the risk factors included in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, as supplemented by any risk factors contained in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. We caution investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this document. These statements speak only as of the date of this document, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise the statements, except as may be required by law.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
The Company has presented the following measures that are not measures of performance under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”): adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“adjusted EBITDA”), free cash flow, funds from operations (“FFO”), adjusted funds from operations (“AFFO”), diluted AFFO per share, outdoor operating income, acquisition-adjusted results and acquisition-adjusted consolidated expense. Our management reviews our performance by focusing on these key performance indicators not prepared in conformity with GAAP. We believe these non-GAAP performance indicators are meaningful supplemental measures of our operating performance and should not be considered in isolation of, or as a substitute for their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.
Our Non-GAAP financial measures are determined as follows:
- We define adjusted EBITDA as net income before income tax expense (benefit), interest expense (income), loss (gain) on extinguishment of debt and investments, stock-based compensation, depreciation and amortization, gain or loss on disposition of assets and investments and capitalized contract fulfillment costs, net.
- Adjusted EBITDA margin is defined as adjusted EBITDA divided by net revenues.
- Free cash flow is defined as adjusted EBITDA less interest, net of interest income and amortization of deferred financing costs, current taxes, preferred stock dividends and total capital expenditures.
- We use the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts definition of FFO, which is defined as net income before gains or losses from the sale or disposal of real estate assets and investments and real estate related depreciation and amortization and including adjustments to eliminate unconsolidated affiliates and non-controlling interest.
- We define AFFO as FFO before (i) straight-line revenue and expense; (ii) capitalized contract fulfillment costs, net; (iii) stock-based compensation expense; (iv) non-cash portion of tax provision; (v) non-real estate related depreciation and amortization; (vi) amortization of deferred financing costs; (vii) loss on extinguishment of debt; (viii) non-recurring infrequent or unusual losses (gains); (ix) less maintenance capital expenditures; and (x) an adjustment for unconsolidated affiliates and non-controlling interest.
- Diluted AFFO per share is defined as AFFO divided by weighted average diluted common shares outstanding.
- Outdoor operating income is defined as operating income before corporate expenses, stock-based compensation, capitalized contract fulfillment costs, net, depreciation and amortization and loss (gain) on disposition of assets.
- Acquisition-adjusted results adjusts our net revenue, direct and general and administrative expenses, outdoor operating income, corporate expense and EBITDA for the prior period by adding to, or subtracting from, the corresponding revenue or expense generated by the acquired or divested assets before our acquisition or divestiture of these assets for the same time frame that those assets were owned in the current period. In calculating acquisition-adjusted results, therefore, we include revenue and expenses generated by assets that we did not own in the prior period but acquired in the current period. We refer to the amount of pre-acquisition revenue and expense generated by or subtracted from the acquired assets during the prior period that corresponds with the current period in which we owned the assets (to the extent within the period to which this report relates) as “acquisition-adjusted results”.
- Acquisition-adjusted consolidated expense adjusts our total operating expense to remove the impact of stock-based compensation, depreciation and amortization, capitalized contract fulfillment costs, net and loss (gain) on disposition of assets and investments. The prior period is also adjusted to include the expense generated by the acquired or divested assets before our acquisition or divestiture of such assets for the same time frame that those assets were owned in the current period.
Adjusted EBITDA, FFO, AFFO, diluted AFFO per share, free cash flow, outdoor operating income, acquisition-adjusted results and acquisition-adjusted consolidated expense are not intended to replace other performance measures determined in accordance with GAAP. Free cash flow, FFO and AFFO do not represent cash flows from operating activities in accordance with GAAP and, therefore, these measures should not be considered indicative of cash flows from operating activities as a measure of liquidity or of funds available to fund our cash needs, including our ability to make cash distributions. Adjusted EBITDA, free cash flow, FFO, AFFO, diluted AFFO per share, outdoor operating income, acquisition-adjusted results and acquisition-adjusted consolidated expense are presented as we believe each is a useful indicator of our current operating performance. Specifically, we believe that these metrics are useful to an investor in evaluating our operating performance because (1) each is a key measure used by our management team for purposes of decision making and for evaluating our core operating results; (2) adjusted EBITDA is widely used in the industry to measure operating performance as it excludes the impact of depreciation and amortization, which may vary significantly among companies, depending upon accounting methods and useful lives, particularly where acquisitions and non-operating factors are involved; (3) adjusted EBITDA, FFO, AFFO, diluted AFFO per share and acquisition-adjusted consolidated expense each provides investors with a meaningful measure for evaluating our period-over-period operating performance by eliminating items that are not operational in nature and reflect the impact on operations from trends in occupancy rates, operating costs, general and administrative expenses and interest costs; (4) acquisition-adjusted results is a supplement to enable investors to compare period-over-period results on a more consistent basis without the effects of acquisitions and divestitures, which reflects our core performance and organic growth (if any) during the period in which the assets were owned and managed by us; (5) free cash flow is an indicator of our ability to service debt and generate cash for acquisitions and other strategic investments; (6) outdoor operating income provides investors a measurement of our core results without the impact of fluctuations in stock-based compensation, depreciation and amortization and corporate expenses; and (7) each of our Non-GAAP measures provides investors with a measure for comparing our results of operations to those of other companies.
Our measurement of adjusted EBITDA, FFO, AFFO, diluted AFFO per share, free cash flow, outdoor operating income, acquisition-adjusted results and acquisition-adjusted consolidated expense may not, however, be fully comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. Reconciliations of adjusted EBITDA, FFO, AFFO, diluted AFFO per share, free cash flow, outdoor operating income, acquisition-adjusted results and acquisition-adjusted consolidated expense to the most directly comparable GAAP measures have been included herein.
Conference Call Information
A conference call will be held to discuss the Company’s operating results on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 8:00 a.m. central time. Instructions for the conference call and Webcast are provided below:
Conference Call
All Callers: 1-334-777-6991 or 1-800-338-4880
Passcode: 65248056
Replay: 1-334-323-0140 or 1-877-919-4059
Passcode: 17058032
Available through Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. eastern time
Live Webcast: www.lamar.com
Webcast Replay: www.lamar.com
Available through Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. eastern time
Company Contact:
Buster Kantrow
Director of Investor Relations
(225) 926-1000
bkantrow@lamar.com
General Information
Founded in 1902, Lamar Advertising (Nasdaq: LAMR) is one of the largest outdoor advertising companies in North America, with over 351,000 displays across the United States and Canada. Lamar offers advertisers a variety of billboard, interstate logo, transit and airport advertising formats, helping both local businesses and national brands reach broad audiences every day. In addition to its more traditional out-of-home inventory, Lamar is proud to offer its customers the largest network of digital billboards in the United States with over 3,600 displays.
