Group Press Releases
Update on Developments Within Aegis
08 December 2000
This morning, Aegis will hold a seminar for fund managers and analysts as part of its ongoing investor relations programme. The focus of the seminar will be the competitive advantage of its subsidiary Carat, the world’s leading independent media communications specialist, in a rapidly changing market. Carat’s senior management will also outline how they believe traditional and new media markets are developing and explain how the Carat network is positioning itself for the future and investing to reinforce its competitive leadership.At the seminar, Aegis will confirm the new business performance of the Group. In the first 10 months of 2000, Aegis has achieved a record $1.85 billion of net new business. This compares to net new business of $1.2 billion for the full 12 months of last year. The financial benefits of the new business wins will begin to be felt towards the end of 2001.
Key new business wins in the first 10 months have been primarily in Europe and include Renault, Carrefour, LVMH, Bertelsmann, and BMW. Since then, major new wins have included Vodafone across Europe, Coca Cola in the UK and Kellogg’s in France. A major trend during 2000 has been the consolidation of advertisers media business into single agency appointments across Europe thus gaining the benefit of network strengths and consistency at the expense of a multi-agency roster model.While Aegis has continued to extend overall its net new media business during the second half, the rate of growth in the US has been less strong than in Europe. Market research has also been affected by the slowdown in spending by major consumer packaged goods companies. Aegis believes that global advertising growth will be around 8% in 2000 and some 6.3% in 2001. The Group expects to continue to increase its market share in both advertising and research in all regions, reflecting the competitive advantage and leading positions of its operations.
The seminar will cover in detail the facets of Aegis’ media business that give Carat its competitive edge in winning and handling advertising mandates. It looks at media communication from a clients perspective and the way that Carat delivers competitive advantage through insight, network coherence, services and resources. As indicated at its interim results Aegis Group continues to invest in tools and products that provide service efficiencies and unique capabilities. In the last twelve months Carat Group has also expanded geographically in Asia and Latin America.
For further information please contact:
Douglas Flynn, Chief Executive Officer
Jeremy Hicks, Chief Financial Officer
Richard Walters, Head of Corporate
Communications
Aegis Group plc
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7070 7700
Tim Spratt / Charles Palmer
Financial Dynamics
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7831 3113
