WPP’s XM acquires majority stake in Thomas Idea in Thailand

March 14, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

wppXM Asia, a division of WPP’s wholly-owned operating company JWT, has acquired a majority stake in Thomas Idea, a digital marketing agency in Thailand.

Founded in 1995 in Bangkok, Thomas Idea employs 45 people and had total assets of around THB 50 million at 31 December 2012. Thomas Idea services include online strategy consulting, website design and development, digital marketing and applications design. Clients include Beiersdorf, Reckitt Benckiser, TIPCO, Abbott Laboratories and Pruska.

UK, London & Thailand

Related articles:

Posted in Marketing/Advertising, ~Asia, ~Europe. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

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

Related articles

Posted in Broadcasting, Company Results, Content Media, ~Europe. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

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

Related articles:

 

Posted in Marketing/Advertising, ~Europe, ~Middle East & Africa. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

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

Related articles:

 

Posted in Marketing/Advertising, ~Asia, ~Europe. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

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

Related articles:

Posted in Company Results, Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Publishers, ~Europe. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

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

Related articles:

Posted in Company Results, Marketing/Advertising, ~Europe. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

I-5 Publishing acquires special interest media brands from BowTie Inc

February 12, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

i-5Publishing-52x60I-5 Publishing LLC, a newly-formed joint venture of publishing industry executives David Fry and Mark Harris, has acquired the books, magazines and websites of BowTie Inc., the publisher of special-interest brands such as Cat Fancy and Dog Fancy.

The acquisition, effective February 1, 2013, includes consumer magazines like Horse Illustrated and Urban Farm, trade magazines like Pet Product News International, websites including AnimalNetwork.com and DogChannel.com, and books including Dog Heroes of September 11th and The Original Dog Bible.

“We are thrilled to bring these storied brands under our umbrella,” said Harris, who has been appointed interim CEO of I-5 Publishing. “Combining the talented, passionate teams that have built such a robust content engine with the technology and expertise of our existing joint ventures creates the perfect platform on which to create an infinite variety of special-interest content for delivery in all formats.”

I-5 Publishing is the latest in a series of partnerships between Fry and Harris and their respective companies. Harris is the co-founder and co-owner of National Publisher Services. Fry is the chairman of NPI Ventures, LLC, which owns 50-percent of NPS, and the Chief Technology Officer of Fry Communications.

Harris and Ambrose will be joined on the executive team by former BowTie executives Nicole Fabian, Chief Financial Officer, June Kikuchi, Chief Content Officer and Dolores Whitlo, VP of Consumer Marketing.

USA, Irvine, CA

 

Posted in Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~North America. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

Vitesse Media plc – trading update

February 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

vitessemedia

Vitesse Media Plc, the AIM-quoted media business, has issued a trading update ahead of the announcement of its full year audited results to 31 January 2013.

 

The announcement is as follows:

The Company’s performance in the second half of the year improved, with the trading loss in the second half reducing considerably, both against the first half of the financial year and the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Turning points have been reached in some of our key product titles. GrowthBusiness.co.uk, which was re-launched early in 2012, delivered like-for-like revenue increases in the final quarter of 13 per cent., compared to the same period the previous year.  WhatInvestment.co.uk, which was re-launched just before Christmas 2012, saw traffic increase 40 per cent. in January 2013 compared to January 2012, assisted by the improving stock market conditions.  In the Events division, our technology venture capital event, Investor All Stars, saw attendances reach a ten-year high.  This week we expect to complete the final stages of our investment programme, with the re-launch of the SmallBusiness.co.uk and Information-Age.com web sites.

During the last two years, our databases have been reconfigured into Sales Force, all four of our major web sites have been completely overhauled, all our titles have been digitised and there has been an investment in social media to extend our marketing capabilities.  Niki Baker was appointed CEO in September 2012 and the business was reorganised into four teams: SME Business, Technology, Investment and Events.  This has led to a greater focus on driving results.

Bookings for the first quarter of the financial year 2013/4 have stabilised and the plans to launch two new digital subscription products and two new events during the first half are at an advanced stage.

Despite the difficult trading conditions, the directors believe that the changes implemented over the past two years mean that the company is now fully positioned to develop as a growing digital, events and research business and view the outlook as encouraging.

UK, London

Posted in Company Results, Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Content Media, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Publishers, ~Europe. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »

Gannett Co. reports strong fourth quarter financial results

February 5, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

gannettGannett Co., the international media and marketing solutions company, has reported strong fourth quarter financial results. With company revenue growth of 9% and non-GAAP earnings growth of 20 Percent. Worse then expected advertising results meant that shares in Gannett fell more than 5 per cent in midday trading on Monday.

Summary

Total operating revenues for the company were $1.52 billion in the fourth quarter, a 9.4 percent increase compared to the fourth quarter last year. A substantial increase in Broadcasting segment revenues, higher Publishing segment revenues as well as the extra week in the quarter drove the increase.

The increase in Broadcasting segment revenues reflects a record level of political spending in the quarter. Higher circulation revenue drove the increase in the Publishing segment.

Advertising revenues in the publishing segment totaled $657.5 million compared to $670.7 million in the fourth quarter a year ago, a 2.0 percent decline. Excluding the extra week, advertising revenues were 6.5 percent lower.

Total television revenues were 45.7 percent higher and totaled $280.2 million compared to $192.4 million in the fourth quarter last year. The revenue growth was driven by $91.2 million in politically related advertising during the fourth quarter of 2012. First quarter 2013 year-over-year comparisons will be unfavorably impacted by the absence of $5.1 million in political revenue and the move of the Super Bowl from NBC to CBS.

Digital segment operating revenues were $187.2 million compared to $181.5 million in the fourth quarter last year. Solid revenue growth at CareerBuilder drove the increase.

Gracia Martore, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are proud of our strong operating results this quarter with growth in revenue and margin expansion driving strong cash flow. This caps an extremely productive year in which we successfully implemented our strategy to position Gannett for success in the digital era. For the year, we achieved our first year-over-year increase in company-wide revenue since 2006. During the fourth quarter and for the full year, our Broadcasting business delivered record revenue and profitability. Our television stations significantly increased market share this year reflecting the value of their content and format in gaining new viewers while retaining their loyal base. Not to be outdone, local domestic publishing circulation revenue also increased for the third straight quarter driven by the success of our all access content subscription model. We are meeting or exceeding the revenue and operating profit goals we had for the all access content subscription model. Total digital revenue across Gannett increased 29 percent and represented 25 percent of total revenue. Our strategy is gaining momentum, our investments are bearing fruit and we are achieving the results we expected. We enter 2013 with our businesses performing well and poised for even greater success going forward. We remain confident we are well positioned to achieve our goals and to continue delivering on our promise to return increased value to shareholders,” Martore said.

Read the full report here

USA, McLean, VA

Related articles:

Posted in Company Results, Content Media, Internet Media, Publishers, ~North America. Tags: , . Leave a Comment »

Performance Marketing Brands acquires Pushpins

January 24, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

pmbUS shopping programs business Performance Marketing Brands has acquired Pushpins. Pushpins is a free iOS application that offers grocery shoppers digital coupons at over 6,000 stores and weekly specials at over 50,000 stores, as well as easy access to nutritional information and an intelligent shopping assistant.

Pushpins’ technology integrates with customer loyalty cards, so coupons get automatically deducted during grocery store purchases at the checkout. pushpins

“Expanding into grocery categories is a great way for us to expand opportunities for our members to save with coupons, deals and cash back every time they shop,” said Kevin H. Johnson, CEO of Performance Marketing Brands. “The Pushpins application provides a wonderful tool for consumers to shop smarter.”

Pushpins was founded in 2010 by Co-Founders Jason Gurwin, CEO, and Peter Michailidis, CMO. The two entrepreneurs previously built entertainment and point-of-sale systems

USA, San Francisco, CA & Palo Alto, CA

Posted in Content Media, e-Commerce, Internet Media, Marketing/Advertising, Mobile Apps, ~North America. Tags: , , . Leave a Comment »
« Older posts
Newer posts »