Advertising account activity increased again in February, with further reviews in the pipeline, according to the latest edition of Lehman Brothers’ New Business Scorecard.The broker says that WPP came top of the pile, whilst Omnicom and Publicis were ‘solid’ and Interpublic showed further deterioration in the form a number of major account reviews. Overall, new… Continue reading Lehman Says Advertising Account Activity Is On The Up

US cable corporation, Liberty Media, is to spin off its international businesses to shareholders, as part of efforts to simplify the group’s complex structure.The detached businesses will run as Liberty Media International (LMI) and will operate principally in Europe, Japan and Latin America. These businesses include UnitedGlobalCom, Jupiter Telecommunication and Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico.Liberty… Continue reading Liberty Media To Spin Off International Businesses

Ulster Television (UTV) continued to outperform ITV in terms of advertising in 2003, with its revenues rising by 2.1% whilst ITV’s fell by 3.4%. This gave UTV a record annual share of ITV advertising of 2.4%, according to the company’s full year results released this morning.The group expects television ad revenues to rise by a… Continue reading Ulster TV Sees Airtime Revenues Up 10% In Q1 2004

UK cable operator, Telewest Communications, dramatically reduced its losses during 2003 as the benefits of its financial restructure and a return to focus on customer relationship have begun to bear fruit.Losses at the company were down from £2.2 billion in 2002 to just £272 million last year. Group operating loss was reduced from £1.9 billion… Continue reading Telewest Turns The Corner As Loss Declines

Profits at global advertising network, Publicis Groupe, rose by 21.8% to €263 million in 2003. This follows the integration of Bcom3 and a return to sustainable organic growth, the company said this morning.Organic growth at the network was 2.0%, within which there was a 3.7% rise during the second half of the year. The confidence… Continue reading Publicis Looks Strong, Whilst Interpublic Slumps

International magazine publisher, Future Network, is to issue its first dividend to shareholders after reporting a strong set of financial results for the full year 2003.The group said that turnover was up by 11% to £182.7 million, whilst operating profit rose by 24% to £22.5 million. Earnings per share rose from 4.4p in 2002 to… Continue reading Future Sets Maiden Dividend As Revenue Rises 11%

The advertising recovery is gaining momentum according to SMG, but this could not prevent the Glasgow-based media group from posting poorer than expected profits for the full year 2003.The group this morning reported pre-tax profits down by 27.7% from £24.2 million in 2002 to £17.5 million last year. Analysts had expected profits to be in… Continue reading SMG’s Profits Tumble As Advertising Decline Bites

Aegis Group, the global media network which owns the Carat agency, today posted a 12.7% rise in underlying pre-tax profits for 2003, with media turnover rising by 15.0% £6.9 billion.Aegis chief executive Doug Flynn says that the results have been achieved despite challenging market conditions thanks to action taken by the company over the last… Continue reading Aegis Profits Jump 12.7% As Ad Recovery Builds

Reuters this morning posted underlying profits for the full year which are significantly ahead of market expectations. Group operating profit for 2003 came in at £126 million, up from a loss of £144 million in 2002.Pre-tax profits also showed a substantial turnaround, up from last year’s loss of £493 million to £49 million. Recurring revenue… Continue reading Reuters Results Beat Expectations As Profit Returns