Aegis has announced that its total revenue increased 14.5% in 2006, to £996.9 million, up from £870 million in 2005.
The group’s organic revenue grew 7.7%, with Aegis saying that it the company grew faster than the marketing services industry as a whole, as it has for each of the past ten years.
Underlying operating profit for the company was up 16.3% to £133.8 million, up from £115 million in 2005, whilst the company’s underlying pre-tax profit grew to £116.2 million, an increase of 16% year on year.
In the UK, Aegis Media saw a slowdown in conventional media, with only online advertising showing significant growth. However, Aegis said it was largely protected from this slowdown by its leading position in digital media and its new business run, with Carat topping the new business league table for a second successive year.
Robert Lerwill, CEO of Aegis Group, said: “2006 was another excellent year for Aegis. We continued to operate at the forefront of major industry shifts: digital convergence in media and entertainment; true globalisation and sophisticated market research.
“Both Aegis Media and Synovate delivered strong performances, ensuring that overall Aegis delivered better organic revenue growth than its peers, and a tenth year of market outperformance.
“Our prospects for 2007 are promising. Demand in our markets is growing ahead of world GDP. On top of that, our business mix, our advantage in products and services, and the record new business wins of last year should enable us to outperform our markets once more in 2007.”
Aegis will be holding an EGM on April 4 to vote on whether to grant Vincent Bollore two seats on the board (see Aegis Announces EGM Date)
Bollore, chairman of rival firm Havas, has already been unsuccessful with two previous attempts to gain board representation, with the Aegis board claiming that 25% stake in Haves constitutes a conflict of interest.
The Aegis chief financial officer, Jeremy Hicks is leaving the company on April 1 to move to the US. His position will be taken by Alicja Lesniak, a chartered accountant who has worked for several marketing services agencies over the past 20 years.
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