 |
| Mark Penn |
Stagwell’s Mark Penn reports Q3 revenue fell 7 percent to $617.6M and net income declined to $653K from $10.6M a year ago.
He anticipates a return to growth over the next two quarters as tech spending perks up, and the entertainment and auto sectors rebound from strikes.
Penn is ready for a “strong 2024 as the political cycle kicks in again and as we introduce our cutting-edge AI products within the Stagwell marketing cloud.”
The company on Oct. 31 bolstered its balance sheet via the divestiture of ConcentricLife for $245M cash.
Penn called that integrated health marketing agency “a non-core asset.”
Stagwell followed up that divestiture with the $15M acquisition of Movers and Shakers LLC, provider of social media marketing solutions.
Penn expects Stagwell will report a 4 percent decline in organic net revenue for full-year 2023, an improvement from the Q3 7 percent dip.
Stagwell owns Allison+Partners, SKDK, Sloane & Co., KWT Global and Hunter.
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.
