Media buying group Aegis's underlying pre-tax profit, adjusted for writedowns and £30.5m of restructuring costs, slipped 11 per cent year on year to £149.3m. Strip out £133.2m of favourable currency movements, and group organic revenues fell 8.7 per cent in the period.
Aegis Media saw operating profit fall 5 per cent to £150.4m and the operating margin there slipped a percentage point to 18.2 per cent. But the unit's revenues were fairly steady, with Asia-Pacific managing a 19 per cent revenue boost. Market research arm Synovate, however, saw operating profits slide 13 per cent year on year to £36.9m - even though the business bounced back from the first-half's operating loss of £3.2m. Overall, the group delivered £55.6m of cost savings.
Aegis also announced a convertible bond issue to raise £175m - and investors can expect a fresh assault in acquisitions, especially in China and the US, although the group spent just £12m on deals in 2009. New chief executive Jerry Buhlmann takes the helm from 1 May.
Broker Panmure Gordon currently expects adjusted EPS of 9.09p for 2010 (8.58p in 2009).
AEGIS (AGS) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 122p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.41bn | |
| TOUCH: | 121-122p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 129p | 73p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2% | PE RATIO: | 22 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 37p* | NET DEBT: | 58% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£bn) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 8.08 | 94.0 | 5.6 | 1.65 |
| 2006 | 8.23 | 114.0 | 6.8 | 1.90 |
| 2007 | 9.35 | 132.0 | 7.9 | 2.30 |
| 2008 | 10.40 | 125.0 | 7.3 | 2.50 |
| 2009 | 9.69 | 91.2 | 5.5 | 2.50 |
| % change | -7 | -27 | -25 | - |
Ex-div: 2 Jun Payment: 1 Jul *Includes intangible assets of £1.1bn, or 94p a share | ||||
