 Richard Eyre |
Next Fifteen Communications Group reported a 1.1 percent dip in PR revenues to $173.2.2M for the 12-month period ended Jan. 31, a year of restructuring that featured the merger of tech firms Text100 and Bite to form Archetype.
The UK-based firm's PR (brand marketing) group, which includes Archetype, Outcast, M Booth, Blueshirt and Publitek, showed a 0.1 percent uptick in organic growth.
Operating profit rose 7.7 percent to $38.4M.
Next 15's overall US business grew 1.7 percent to $150.7.9M and 2.8 percent organically. Operating profit dipped 5.1 percent to $22M.
Chairman Richard Eyre said "great progress" was made in the fiscal year as Next 15 "evolved from a pure PR group into a data and technology-driven marketing group."
He sees more change ahead as "the industry continues to evolve and as our customers wrestle with the impact technology is having on their own business models."
Public Policy Holding Company registered 23.8 percent Q3 growth to $48.8M, with organic growth contributing 4.5 percent and the balance driven by merger & acquisition activity.
Publicis Groupe reported 3.1 percent in Q3 growth to $4B, sparked by a 3.6 percent jump North America, its biggest market.
WPP suffered a 10.2 percent drop in 1H revenues to $6.7B and a 47.8 percent plunge in operating profit to $297M.
Interpublic reported Q2 net revenues dropped 6.6 percent to $2.2B and operating income tumbled 23.4 percent to $243.7M. 
WPP has adopted a gloomier profit and sales forecast due to a deteriorating Q2 financial performance triggered by weak client spending as companies cope with the challenging economic backdrop.
