WPP acquires john st. a creative agency in Canada

March 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

wppWPP has acquired john st., one of Canada’s top creative agencies.

Founded in 2001 and based in Toronto, john st. employs approximately 100 people and has unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2012 of approximately $14.0 million, with gross assets at the same date of $5.5 million. Clients include AstraZeneca, Kruger, ING Direct, Maple Leaf Foods and Tata.

Over the last 12 years, john st. has built an international reputation as one of Canada’s leading innovative johnstcreative agencies. It was recently named Silver Agency of the Year as well as Silver Digital Agency of the Year by Strategy, a leading Canadian marketing publication.

The acquisition of john st. strengthens WPP’s presence in Canada. “We see enormous value in being part of WPP,” says Arthur Fleischmann President of john st. “We’ll now be able to augment our current services in areas that clients are asking for, such as media, direct and public relations.”

UK, London & Canada, Toronto

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Progressive Digital Media Group preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2012.

March 1, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Business information business Progressive Digital Media Group Plc has announced preliminary results for the year ended 31 December progressive2012.

Full details of preliminary results

Highlights

  • Group revenue increased by 6.9% to £53.9m (2011: £50.4m)
  • Adjusted EBITDA increased by 25.6% to £9.1m (2011: £7.2m)
  • Adjusted EBITDA margin increased to 16.9% (2011: 14.4%)
  • Reported EBITDA increased by 31.8% to £7.4m (2011: £5.6m)
  • Reported profit before tax of £4.3m (2011: £1.4m) inclusive of £0.9m restructuring costs and £0.8m share based payment charge
  • Cash generated from operations increased to £6.4m (2011: £2.9m)
  • Net cash of £6.2m (2011: net debt £22.5m)
  • Acquisition of Kable, one of the UK’s leading providers of technology expenditure intelligence on 2 July 2012. See the DigiNet article on the Kable acquisition.

Simon Pyper, Managing Director of Progressive Digital Media Group Plc, commented:

“This is the Group’s fourth consecutive year of revenue and earnings growth. We have made good progress across a broad range of our most important metrics. This past year we focused on putting in place the building blocks for future long-term growth and eliminating the distractions of our former email marketing business. We continued investing in our Business Information products, acquired a complementary business and re-engineered our balance sheet to both fund future growth and, when appropriate, to distribute dividends to our shareholders.”

UK, London

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ITV plc final results for the year ending December 31, 2012.

March 1, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

ITV plc has announced its final results for the full year ending December 31, 2012.itv

Full results details

Highlights

  • External revenues up 3% to £2,196m (2011: £2,140m), with growth in all areas of the business
  • Total non-NAR revenues up £114m, 12%, to £1,036m (2011: £922m)
  • ITV Studios revenues up £100m, 16%, to £712m (2011: £612m)
  • ITV Family NAR flat, outperforming the TV advertising market
  • Online, Pay & Interactive revenues up 26% to £102m
  • Delivered £30m cost savings
  • EBITA before exceptional items up 13% to £520m (2011: £462m)
  • ITV Studios EBITA up 29% to £107m (2011: £83m)
  • Broadcast and Online EBITA up 9% to £413m (2011: £379m)
  • Adjusted PBT up 17% to £464m (2011: £398m)
  • Adjusted EPS up 16% to 9.2p (2011: 7.9p)
  • Positive net cash of £206m (2011: £45m)
  • Board has proposed a final dividend of 1.8p (2011: 1.2p) giving a full year dividend of 2.6p (2011: 1.6p), and a special dividend of 4.0p, worth £156m
  • Positive start to 2013 with Q1 advertising expected to be up 5% and continued strong demand for ITV Studios content.

Adam Crozier, ITV Chief Executive, said:

“We’re now almost three years into our Transformation Plan and our strong performance is delivering growth right across ITV, enabling us to build a stronger and more balanced business.

UK, London

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Ogilvy & Mather acquires majority stake in South African mobile marketing agency Strike Media

March 1, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

ogilvyWPP‘s wholly owned subsidiary Ogilvy & Mather has acquired a majority stake in Strike Media Proprietary Limited in South Africa.

Strike is a mobile marketing and technology agency delivering customised mobile strategy, campaigns,design and development services to clients across the financial, retail, consumer and telecommunications sectors.

Established in 2003 by Russel Stromin, Strike is headquartered in Cape Town and employs 20 people. Key clients and partners include Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Metropolitan Health.

Strike’s revenues for the financial year ended 29 February 2012 were approximately ZAR 16 million with gross assets as at the same date of approximately ZAR16 million.

UK, London & South Africa, Cape Town

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Reed Elsevier reports growth in the 12 months to 31 December 2012

March 1, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Reed Elsevier reports growth in revenue, operating profit and earnings in the twelve months to 31 December 2012.Reed Elsevier

Full details of results

Financial highlights

  • Underlying revenue growth +4% (+3% excluding biennial exhibition cycling) to £6,116m/€7,523m
  • Underlying adjusted operating profit growth +6% to £1,713m/€2,107m
  • Adjusted EPS +7% to 50.1p for Reed Elsevier PLC; +14% to €0.95 for Reed Elsevier NV
  • Reported EPS +42% to 46.0p for Reed Elsevier PLC; +53% to €0.90 for Reed Elsevier NV
  • Full year dividend +7% to 23.0p for Reed Elsevier PLC; +7% to €0.467 for Reed Elsevier NV
  • Return on invested capital up by 0.7 percentage points to 11.9%
  • Net debt £0.3bn lower at £3.1bn; 2.2x EBITDA pensions and lease adjusted (1.7x unadjusted)

Operational highlights

  • Revenue growth driven by volume growth, new products, and expansion in high growth markets
  • Profitability gains driven by process innovation and portfolio development
  • All five business areas contributed to underlying revenue and profit growth
  • Continued improvement in revenue mix by format, geography, and type
  • Accelerated portfolio reshaping; gross proceeds from disposal of non-core businesses £242m
  • £250m of share buybacks completed in 2012
  • £100m of share buybacks completed in 2013 YTD; further £300m to be deployed in remainder of 2013

Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Officer, Erik Engstrom, commented:

“In 2012 we made good progress on our strategy to systematically transform our business into a professional information solutions provider that combines content & data with analytics & technology in global platforms. We continued to do this primarily through organic development, with acquisitions limited to small content and data assets across markets and assets in high growth geographies. We also accelerated the evolution of our portfolio by disposing of businesses that no longer fit our strategy, using the proceeds to buy back shares. As a result of these actions we are continuing to improve the quality of our earnings, to deliver more predictable revenues, a higher growth profile, and improving returns.

By the end of 2012 approximately 80% of our revenues were in our targeted formats of electronic and face to face, which generated average underlying revenue growth rates of +5-7%. Although the outlook for the macro environment, and its impact on our customer markets, is mixed, we have entered 2013 with positive momentum, and expect another year of underlying revenue, profit, and earnings growth.”

UK, London & The Netherlands, Amsterdam

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Y&R acquires majority stake in Turkish creative digital agency C-Section

March 1, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

y&rWPP‘s wholly-owned operating company, Y&R, has acquired a majority stake in CS Reklam Hizmetleri Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.Ş., trading as “C-Section“, a creative digital advertising agency based in Istanbul, Turkey.

Founded in 2004, C-Section specialises in creating microsites, apps, digital campaigns and video csection-logo2production/virals for the Turkish market. The agency employs approximately 40 people and clients include Coca-Cola, Vodafone, and TEB BNP Paribas.

C-Section’s unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2012 were TRY 7.5million, with gross assets as at the same date of TRY 3.0million. The agency will retain its distinct independent identity and will not be merged with Y&R Istanbul.

UK, London & Turkey, Istanbul

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UBM results for the year ended 31 December 2012

March 1, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

UBM has announced preliminary results for the full year ended 31 December 2012

Full preliminary resultsUBM

Highlights

  • Agreed disposal of Data Services businesses
  • Revenues from continuing operations rose 2.0% to £797.8m – organic revenue growth of 6.0%
  • Events organic revenue growth of 11.9% with operating profit up to £142.4m
  • Emerging Markets revenues up 18.1% to £204.7m with operating profit of £61.7m
  • Adjusted operating profit from continuing operations up 1.6% to £177.0m
  • Fully diluted adjusted EPS for continuing operations up 3.3% to 49.8p – including Delta: 59.1p
  • £60.6m invested in acquiring eight events businesses and the remaining Canada Newswire stake
  • Recommending final dividend of 20.0p (2011: 20.0p) to bring total dividend to 26.7p, up 1.5%

David Levin, UBM’s Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“2012 has been another good year for UBM both operationally and strategically. We grew overall revenues and profits, with robust underlying revenue growth in our key Events and PR Newswire businesses. Events now account for three quarters of the Group’s continuing operating profit. We have continued to focus on large tradeshows; in 2012, 100 annual events generated revenues of more than £1m – accounting for 85% of annual event revenues.”

“The sale of the Delta businesses is a significant strategic step which simplifies UBM’s business, improves the quality of our earnings, enhances underlying growth rates and removes the challenge of transitioning the Delta businesses to the digital environment. We can now focus on further developing UBM as a fast-growing and increasingly profitable events-led marketing services and communications business.”

UK, London

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WPP reports better-than-expected full-year 2012 results

March 1, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Advertising giant WPP has reported better-than-expected full-year 2012 results.wpp

Full preliminary WPP results

Highlights

  • Reported billings decreased slightly to £44.4bn, primarily reflecting the strength of the £ sterling, although up 1.6% in constant currency driven by leadership position in net new business league tables
  • Revenue growth of 3.5%, with like-for-like growth of 2.9%, 2.9% growth from acquisitions and minus 2.3% from currency
  • Like-for-like revenue growth in all but one region, characterised by particularly strong growth in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and all but one sector (public relations and public affairs), with strong growth in advertising, media investment management and specialist communications
  • Like-for-like gross margin growth at 2.4%, with slower growth in the Group’s consumer insight businesses in the mature markets of North America, the United Kingdom and Western Continental Europe
  • Headline EBITDA growth of 7.0% giving 0.5 margin point improvement, with operating costs (+2.8%) rising less than revenues
  • Headline PBIT increase of 7.1% with PBIT margin rising by 0.5 points to 14.8%, surpassing the previous historical pro forma high of 14.3% achieved in 2011
  • Exceptional gains of £102 million on sales of stake in Buddy Media and New York property
  • Exceptional restructuring charges of £93 million taken chiefly in respect of Western Continental European businesses and IT infrastructure
  • Gross margin margins, a more accurate competitive comparator, up 0.6 margin points to an industry leading 16.1%
  • Headline diluted EPS up 8.4% and reported diluted EPS down 2.6% (reflecting last year’s exceptional release of corporate tax provisions), with 15% higher final ordinary dividend of 19.71p and full year dividends of 28.51p per share up 15.9%
  • Average net debt increased £373m (13%) to £3.203bn reflecting increased spending on acquisitions (chiefly AKQA) and higher dividends, partly offset by relative improvement in working capital
  • Creative excellence recognised by the award, for the second consecutive year since its inception, of the Cannes Lion for the most creative Holding Company
  • Over last two years alone headline diluted earnings per share up almost 30%, dividends per share up 60% and the dividend pay-out ratio increased from 31% to 39%

UK, London

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Bglobal sells Utilisoft Australia to Hansen Corporation

March 1, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

bglobalSmart energy solutions and services business Bglobal plc has sold its Australian subsidiary, Utilisoft Pty Ltd (“Utilisoft Australia”), to Hansen Corporation Pty Ltd for a cash consideration of AUD$3.5 million (£2.36 million). Utilisoft Australia provides data management, software and process solutions to customers in the Australian energy market.  Hansen is an independent provider of billing, customer care and IT solutions to the telecommunications, electricity, gas and water industries.

In the year ending 31 March 2012, Utilisoft Australia achieved revenue of £2.38 million, operating profit of £0.36 million and profit before taxation of £0.39 million.  The net assets of Utilisoft Australia at 31 March 2012 were £0.40 million.

The sale of Utilisoft Australia will allow the Board to focus on its remaining UK operating businesses and continue to develop its “meter to cash” smart meter services platform.  During 2012, investment has been made in establishing Bsmart Energy Solutions, a company that is focused on delivering end to end energy services to the SME market and Nutech Training Limited, a company that provides dual fuel smart meter installation training. Both of these subsidiaries are now generating revenues for the Group. The cash proceeds of the sale will be used to invest in the further development of products and services, especially in the further development and testing of a PAYG integrated software solution for which the Group has received strong interest.

The Group now has a strengthened balance sheet, cash in the bank of approximately £3.4 million and the Board has confidence that further progress will be made during the current calendar year to capitalise on the opportunities that the Group is currently pursuing.

Tim Jackson-Smith, CEO, commented: “The sale of our Australian subsidiary strengthens the Group’s balance sheet and provides us with the resources to accelerate the development and field testing of our PAYG solution for which we have seen strong interest from existing energy suppliers and social and commercial landlords. I would like to thank all of the team at Utilisoft Pty for their commitment and hard work and look forward to seeing the business develop under its new owner.”

UK, Darwen, Lancashire & Australia, Bathurst NSW

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Pearson announces preliminary results for the year ending 31 December 2012

February 25, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Pearson has announced preliminary results for the year ending 31 December 2012.se_header_logo_pearson

Full details of preliminary results

Financial highlights

  • Sales up 5% at CER to £6.1bn (with digital and services businesses contributing 50% of sales)
  • Adjusted operating profit 1% higher at £936m
  • Adjusted EPS of 84.2p (86.5p in 2011)
  • Operating cash flow of £788m (£983m in 2011)
  • Return on invested capital of 9.1% (9.1% in 2011)
  • Dividend raised 7% to 45.0p.

Market conditions and industry change

  • Market conditions generally weak in developed world and for print publishing businesses; generally strong in emerging economies and for digital and services businesses.
  • Continuing structural change in education funding, retail channels, consumer behaviour and content business models.
  • Considerable growth opportunity in education driven by rapidly-growing global middle class, adoption of learning technologies, the connection between education and career prospects and increasing consumer spend, especially in emerging economies.

Strong competitive performance

  • North American Education revenues up 2% in a year when US School and Higher Education publishing revenues declined by 10% for the industry as a whole.
  • International Education revenues up 13% with emerging market revenues up 25%.
  • FT Group revenues up 4% with the Financial Times’ total paid print and online circulation up to 602,000; digital subscriptions exceed print circulation for the first time.
  • Penguin revenues up 1%, with strong publishing performance and eBooks now 17% of sales.

Accelerated shift to digital & services and to fast-growing economies

  • Pearson announces gross restructuring costs of approximately £150m in 2013 (£100m net of cost savings achieved in the year), focused on:
  1. significantly accelerating the shift of Pearson’s education businesses towards fast-growing economies and digital and services businesses;
  2. separating Penguin activities from Pearson central services and operations in preparation for the merger of Penguin and Random House.

Restructuring expected to generate annual cost savings of approximately £100m in 2014.

  • In 2014, £100m of cost savings to be reinvested in organic development of fast-growing education markets and categories and further restructuring, including the Penguin Random House integration.
  • From 2015, restructuring programme expected to produce faster growth, improving margins and stronger cash generation.

Outlook

·      Pearson expects tough trading conditions and structural industry change to continue in 2013.

·      Excluding restructuring costs and including Penguin for the full year, Pearson expects to achieve 2013 operating profit and adjusted EPS broadly level with 2012.

John Fallon, chief executive, said: “Pearson has a sound, successful strategy: now we are significantly accelerating its implementation. Trading conditions are tough and structural changes mean many of our traditional publishing activities are under pressure. But the underlying demand for effective education remains immensely powerful and our developing world and digital services businesses have real scale and momentum. The restructuring of the company that we are announcing today is designed to strengthen dramatically Pearson’s position in digital education services and in our most important markets for the future – and to enable us to capture the once-in-a-generation opportunity that comes with being the world’s leading learning company.”

UK, London

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