Omnicom Reports An Encouraging 17% Rise In Profits
Global advertising giant Omnicom today announced that net income for the first quarter of 2004 has increased by 17% to $135.6 million, up from $115.5 million for the same period last year.
This is the second strong quarter in a row for the holding company, which posted a 10% growth in the last quarter 2003, signalling that advertising spend is continuing to improve as the economic climate stabilises and business confidence gradually returns.
The non-US business experienced the greatest revenue increase of 21% to $1.01 billion, up from $837.6 million, while domestic revenue increased by 11% to $1.2 billion during the same three month period.
John Wren, Omnicom president and CEO, said: “We’re very pleased with our performance in the first quarter. For the first time in nearly three years advertising and speciality advertising all performed well and contributed to our overall growth.”
He added: “Asia, North American and South America were strong across the board showing improvements in the economies in those regions. Growth in Europe slowed, specifically, revenue’s in Germany and France were flat.”
WPP chief executive, Sir Martin Sorrell, recently provided further evidence of an end to the advertising downturn by announcing that the group’s financial results for the first quarter of this year are ‘quite lively’ (see Sorrell Upbeat On Prospect Of Advertising Recovery).
Omnicom Group: 020 7278 2332 www.omnicomgroup.com
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