Earnings per share were just $0.02, down on October’s forecast of $0.08-$0.10 and way below the original, pre-warning Wall Street consensus of $0.28. Organic revenues declined by 5.8%, although this represents an improvement on Q1 and Q2, which were down by 13.8% and 10.2% respectively.
By way of comparison, WPP’s revenues were down by 3.0% (see WPP Sees Muted Revenue Growth In Third Quarter), Havas’ by 5.9%, whilst Omnicom Group saw a growth of 4.7%.
IPG says that the results were lower than previously forecast due to unanticipated operating costs at McCann-Erickson, the group’s largest operating unit. The bulk of a $181.3 million accounting imbalance came from units of the McCann-Erickson WorldGroup in Europe.
IPG’s chief executive John J. Dooner described the period as ‘a trying episode’ for the company.
