The Scott Wells era at Clear Channel Outdoor got off to a good start.  Here are the highlights of the earnings release, earnings presentation and conference call.

• Revenue grew 37% to $743 million.  US revenues were up 44%.  European revenues were up 30%.  Other revenues up 44%.  Here’s a breakout of the company’s Americas division which is primarily the US.

• Adjusted Cashflow (EBIDTA) doubled to $222 million.
• Capital expenses increased to $66 million during the fourth quarter of 2021, up from $31 million during the fourth quarter of 2020, due primarily to an increased investment in digital billboards.  The company projects capital expenditures of $190-210 million for the full year 2022.
• Debt totaled $5.6 billion at 12/31/21.  The weighted average cost of debt is 5.6% an improvement of 50 basis points from the previous year.  Debt is 12.6 times trailing 12 months adjusted EBIDTA of $442 million.  Billboard Insider thinks a sustainable level is 5-6 times.
• The company expects first quarter 2022 revenue to grow by 4-15% in Europe and to be flat in the Americas.

CEO Scott Wells on Digital Billboard Conversions.

..Digital led the rebound in 2021 and was up 66% in the fourth quarter and 41% for the full year. In the U.S., we deployed 94 larger format digital billboards giving us a total of more than 1,500 digital billboards in 2021. Combined with our smaller format digital displays in airports and on shelters, we have a total of more than 4,000 digital displays across the United States…And in Europe, we added 1,361 digital displays in 2021 for a total of over 17,500 digital displays now live. In the year ahead, we are aiming to deploy a similar number of digital billboards in the U.S. and digital displays in Europe which will further expand the addressability of our portfolio.

CFO Brian Coleman was mum on the sale of Europe

We announced in December of 2021 that we had commenced the process of evaluating strategic alternatives for Europe including possible sale. And that’s part of our portfolio optimization process..as soon as our Board takes action on it, we’ll be communicating that very promptly at that time.

Billboard Insider’s take: The market liked the news.  Clear Channel Outdoor rose 10% to $4.0` on a day when OUTFRONT rose 9%, Lamar rose 3% and the S&P 500 rose 2%.

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