May '11 PR Rankings Issue - Odwyerpr.com
May '11 PR Rankings Issue - Odwyerpr.com
May '11 PR Rankings Issue - Odwyerpr.com
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REPORT<br />
Congloms, <strong>PR</strong> service firms see big Q1 gains<br />
By Greg Hazley and Kevin McCauley<br />
Revenue and profit for the large advertising<br />
and <strong>PR</strong> conglomerates, as well<br />
as <strong>PR</strong> services <strong>com</strong>panies, continued<br />
a positive trend in the first quarter of 2011<br />
as a steady recovery that began in earnest in<br />
the fourth quarter of 2010 held true and<br />
accelerated in some cases.<br />
While emerging markets like India and<br />
South America provided the largest percentage<br />
increases, U.S. and European operations<br />
were surprisingly robust as marketing<br />
spending trended upward in Q1.<br />
OMC 1Q net jumps 24%<br />
Omni<strong>com</strong> Group on April 19 reported a<br />
23.6% surge in first-quarter net to $201.9<br />
million, on a 7.9% rise in revenues to $3.2<br />
billion.<br />
<strong>PR</strong> operations (Fleishman-Hillard,<br />
Ketchum, Porter Novelli and Kreab Gavin<br />
Anderson) inched ahead by 3.9%, trailing<br />
the 7.8% increase of OMC’s advertising<br />
unit, 8.8 % jump in specialty operations and<br />
8.9% advance of the CRM group. Organic<br />
<strong>PR</strong> growth rose 1.9%.<br />
OMC CEO John Wren shelled out $224<br />
million in acquisitions during the period.<br />
Those buys include Voce Communications,<br />
12<br />
MAY 2011 WWW.ODWYER<strong>PR</strong>.COM<br />
Communispace (consumer research),<br />
Clemenger Group (Australia), Fanscape<br />
(social media) Saffirio Tortelli Vigoriti<br />
(Italy) and EJE (Puerto Rico).<br />
In February, Omni<strong>com</strong> reported a 7.4%<br />
rise in 2010’s fourth-quarter net to $246.5<br />
million. Full-year 2010 profit rose 4.4% to<br />
$827.7 million on a seven- percent jump in<br />
revenues to $12.5 billion.<br />
Publicis Q1 revenue up 10.7%<br />
Publicis on April 21 reported first quarter<br />
revenue rose 10.7% to nearly $1.8 billion<br />
over 2010 on the strength of net new business<br />
wins worth $1.9 billion.<br />
Maurice Levy, CEO of the French ad/<strong>PR</strong><br />
conglomerate, said momentum in the U.S.<br />
and Europe — particularly France and<br />
Germany — boosted revenue, as well as the<br />
continued trend toward digital.<br />
Levy said the U.S. market is “going better<br />
and picking up” as he noted organic<br />
growth jumped 8.1% in North America to<br />
euro 632 million, including 8.4% in the<br />
U.S. on the strength of digital efforts and<br />
new business. Levy pointed to Publicis’<br />
6.5% organic growth as “particularly<br />
impressive in light of the challenging base<br />
effect we are facing.”<br />
He said digital and China are key areas of<br />
growth for its units.<br />
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Havas sees ‘upturn’ with Q1 revenue<br />
French advertising and <strong>PR</strong> conglomerate<br />
Havas reported a 9.7% increase in first<br />
quarter revenue to 361 million euro (about<br />
$536 million) on the strength of its U.S.<br />
operations and a “solid recovery” in<br />
Europe.<br />
“We are seeing at the moment an upturn<br />
right across all our <strong>com</strong>munication businesses,”<br />
said David Jones CEO of Havas,<br />
which counts units like Euro RSCG <strong>PR</strong>,<br />
Abernathy MacGregor Group and ad<br />
agency Arnold.<br />
For North America, Havas posted organic<br />
growth of 7.2% on the strength of<br />
healthcare <strong>com</strong>munication and advertising<br />
business there. Revenue for the region hit<br />
125 million euro.<br />
In Europe, Havas posted revenue of 190<br />
million euro and swung to positive organic<br />
growth of 3.8%, after declining three percent<br />
for the same period of 2010. Latin<br />
America (up 24.6%) and Asia Pacific<br />
(10.3%) were also strong performers.<br />
<strong>PR</strong>N revenue up 9%<br />
<strong>PR</strong> Newswire parent <strong>com</strong>pany United<br />
Business Media reported on April 19 a<br />
13.7% increase in first quarter revenue to<br />
£237.7 million, including a 9.1% rise at<br />
<strong>PR</strong>N as targeting distribution and monitoring<br />
business brought in £46.9 million<br />
(about $76 million) during Q1.<br />
UBM said in April that continued<br />
growth at <strong>PR</strong>N’s digital/broadcast division<br />
MultiVu and Edgar filing service Vintage<br />
<strong>com</strong>plemented a “robust performance” in<br />
its U.S. newswire.<br />
Its margin decreased on higher IT costs,<br />
sales and product investments and other<br />
factors. Events are <strong>PR</strong>N’s largest segment<br />
at 84.1 million in Q1, a 33% increase on<br />
acquisitions and an improved climate.<br />
Vocus revenue up 21%, loss widens<br />
Vocus on April 26 posted a 21% increase<br />
in first quarter revenue to $27 million on a<br />
wider net loss of $1.9 million <strong>com</strong>pared<br />
with Q1 of 2010.<br />
The <strong>com</strong>pany’s net was hit by a $1.2<br />
million, one-time cost for professional fees<br />
and a break-up fee after Vocus terminated a<br />
potential “cross-border acquisition” following<br />
its investigation, said CFO Steve<br />
Vintz. Net loss for Q1 of 2010 was<br />
$579,000.<br />
Revenue rose for Q1 as the <strong>PR</strong> software<br />
provider added 682 net new subscribers,<br />
up from about 400 for the same period of<br />
2010.<br />
Quarterly earnings for congloms<br />
Interpublic and WPP had not been publicly<br />
released as of press time.