Aegis Upbeat About Advertising Industry In 2012
March 15 2012 - 3:59AM
Dow Jones News
Aegis Group PLC (AGS.LN) said Thursday that it is optimistic
about the outlook for the advertising industry in 2012, thanks to
key sporting events and the U.S. presidential elections, as the
advertising and marketing company posted a sharp rise in annual
profit and revenue.
The U.K.-based company--which counts U.S. auto maker General
Motors Co. (GM) as its biggest client after securing a $3 billion
global deal in January--said it expects to deliver continued
sector-leading organic revenue growth, which excludes acquisitions,
and further improvement in adjusted operating profit, excluding
acquisitions, in 2012.
Aegis booked a net profit of GBP164.1 million for the year ended
Dec. 31 from GBP41.2 million a year earlier, helped by the sale of
its market research unit Synovate to French group Ipsos SA (IPS.LN)
for an enterprise value of GBP525 million in July.
Following the sale, Aegis is focused predominantly on buying
advertising time and space through its Aegis Media business. At the
time, Aegis said it would return GBP200 million of the sale
proceeds to shareholders via a special dividend and use the rest
for acquisitions to strengthen the remainder of the group, mainly
in digital and emerging markets. It bought U.S. digital agency
Roundarch in February for about $250 million.
Annual adjusted operating profit which excludes exceptional
items--one of the key figures tracked by U.K. analysts--jumped 31%
to GBP197 million, ahead of market expectations of GBP190 million,
underpinned by strong performances from digital operations,
faster-growing regions and North America.
That compares with an adjusted operating profit of GBP151.1
million in 2010.
Revenue from continuing operations rose 21% to GBP1.14 billion
in 2011 from GBP941 million a year earlier.
The 2010 financial figures have been restated to show the
business on a continuing basis following the sale of Synovate in
July 2011.
Aegis, which counts French businessman Vincent Bollore as its
biggest shareholder with a 26.45% stake, reported a final dividend
of 2.01 pence a share, taking the total dividend for 2011 to 3.20
pence. The group also paid a special dividend of 15.53 pence a
share in November 2011.
Aegis shares closed at 179 pence Wednesday, valuing the company
at GBP2.10 billion.
-By Lilly Vitorovich, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-0-207 842 9290;
lilly.vitorovich@dowjones.com
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