Aegis sees profits drop by a fifth and names Buhlmann CEO
Aegis Group has posted a drop in underlying pre-tax profit of 21.8% for 2009 and has appointed Jerry Buhlmann as CEO.
The company, which owns Aegis Media and Synovate, says it saw a “strong result in a recessionary year.” Revenue dropepd 8.7% to £1,346.5m. Pre-tax profit came in at £149.3m.
The Aegis Media division, which embraces Carat and Vizeum, performed “robustly” with record net new business of $2.7bn (£1.76bn).
John Napier, chairman and interim CERO, says: “We performed well to meet market guidance in a tougher year than we initially expected. Media performed robustly and had excellent new business wins. Synovate recovered strongly in the second half, supported by an improvement in revenue and strong management actions on costs and overheads.”
Buhlmann (pictured), currently CEO of Aegis Media, takes up a position which has lain vacant for more than a year after the departure of Robert Lerwill. He takes up the role on 1 May.
