Aegis sees no upturn as revenues slump

Aegis Group, owner of Carat and Vizeum, says that it does not expect any upturn in the market in the second half of the year after reporting a slump in profit and revenues in the first six months.

John Napier
John Napier

The marketing services group says revenue dipped 10.8% on an organic basis to £636.7m in the six months to 30 June helping push pre-tax profit down 22.6% to £43.5m.

The group, which consists of media agency business Aegis Media and market research division Synovate, says in a statement that “market conditions are expected to remain difficult and we are not forecasting on the basis of any upturn in the second half”.

Aegis Media, which includes digital agency network Isobar and Posterscope, outperformed the rest of the group with “a relatively resilient” first-half performance with operating profit down 16% to £63m and revenue, excluding the affects of exchange rates, down 8.4%.

Despite group declines in revenue and profit, the group says first-half cost-cutting leaves it “confident” that full-year profit will be in line with market expectations.

Aegis recently named former Publicis Groupe Media and Bartle Bogle Hegarty executive Mark Cranmer chief executive of Isobar, replacing Nigel Morris, who moved into the same role at Aegis Media North America.

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