Proactive Investors - S4 Capital, the advertising agency founded by WPP (LON:WPP) founder Martin Sorrell, reported a 2.1% decline in reported net revenue (4.5% like-for-like), closing at £873.2 million for the year ending December 31, 2023.
The group previously guided to a 4% fall in LFL revenues.
Operational EBITDA followed suit, plummeting by 24.6% to £93.7 million on a reported basis, and an even steeper 36.6% decline like-for-like when excluding the one-off benefit of £9.3 million from the significant devaluation of the Argentinian peso.
“Profitability came under pressure due to lower revenue than budgeted and significant cost reductions were made to deliver an operational EBITDA margin of 10.7%, in line with revised targets,” said the group in its earnings statement.
S4 said the margins improved in the second half, though warned that “challenging macroeconomic conditions and client caution likely to persist, despite the prospect of lower interest rates”.
Stocks to edge higher
The FTSE 100 should open a few points higher at 7,937 this Wednesday, according to futures contracts for the blue-chip index.
Stocks ended up closing 13 points higher at 7,931 yesterday, in what was a busy session for company results, with Ocado (LON:OCDO) and Flutter (LON:FLTRF) impressing with their sales figures.
ASOS (LON:ASOS) reported an 18% fall in sales, although markets appeared unphased, pushing shares 7% higher throughout the session.
This morning is less busy, with attention shifting to cruise line operator Carnival (NYSE:CCL)’s quarterlies and Endeavour Mining PLC (LON:EDV)’s finals.
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