The fortunes of Interpublic, the world’s second-largest advertising network, hit a new low yesterday as a prominent ratings agency issued a warning about the group’s debt.
Interpublic endured a torrid 2002, punctuated by poor results, accounting revisions and ruminations on the state of the advertising economy. Just recently, IPG’s chief executive CEO John Dooner said that 2003 revenues were likely to come in flat (see
Interpublic Says That 2003 Will Be Flat) and the group’s credit rating was reduced to one level above junk status.
Standard & Poors has now said that it will decide shortly whether to downgrade the stock still further. According to the credit agency: “There is no remaining cushion in the rating to withstand any negative news or disappointing earnings performance.”
