Group Press Releases
Extract From The Chairman’s AGM Statement
22 May 2002
The following extract is from Lord Sharman’s statement to Aegis Group Plc (the Group) shareholders at their Annual General Meeting, which began at 11.00am today.
"The trends in our industry and in our business overall in the first four months of 2002 have developed as we expected."
"In North America, we see some small signs of recovering confidence amongst advertisers although this has yet to result in any significant recovery in media spending. Market research spending is showing modest improvement and this, together with the cost reductions implemented last year, is helping to reverse the pressure on margins we felt in our US market research business in 2001."
"European market research continues to grow although its contribution remains modest. Levels of media spending in Europe remain depressed compared with the strong conditions in the first quarter of 2001 and although stable there is, as yet, no sign of recovery. Latin America remains difficult, but the work we have done to limit costs and risks are resulting in much reduced losses. Asia Pacific remains strong both in media and market research."
"Overall, despite the difficult market conditions, the Group has won sufficient new business to continue modest organic revenue growth. We are also feeling the benefit of recent acquisitions. It remains unclear whether our expectation of a modest general market recovery later in the year will be realised. Nevertheless, we remain cautiously optimistic that 2002 as a whole will prove to be a satisfactory year for the Group."
