Aegis says investment in media will help earnings growth

Daniel Farey-Jones, brandrepublic.com, Wednesday, 21 December 2005, 9:00am,

LONDON – Aegis has said that its recent acquisitions will help its financial performance remain in line with expectations, offsetting weaker than anticipated adspend growth in Europe.

In its media division, the group reported that competition in traditional media and planning continued to be intense, but it was benefiting from its investment in specialist media, communications planning and digital.

In its market research business it observed particularly good growth in the Americas and Eastern Europe.

Aegis revealed that it has spent £1.6m dealing with the unsolicited takeover approaches it received from Publicis in September and WPP in November, neither of which resulted in an offer for the company.

French investor and Havas chairman Vincent Bollore owns 25.05% of Aegis. This month he publicly ruled out a move to take control of the group, but indicated that he saw a logic in merging the media buying operations of Aegis and Havas.

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This article was first published on brandrepublic.com