"Rival-less" MDC Sees Record Revenue Growth in Q2

MDC Partners is having a strong start to 2014, with second-quarter 2014 revenue increasing to $317.7 million, up 10.5% year-over-year. Organic revenue increased 7% and net income attributable to MDC Partners increased to $16.5 million from $9.8 million. Net new business wins totaled a record $53.7 million in annualized revenue during the quarter. 

Year-to-date revenue increased to $610.3 million from $553.1 million, an increase of 10.3%. In the first six months of 2014, organic revenue increased 7.3% and net new business wins totaled $78.3 million.

"The simple truth is that we believe we are without rivals," Miles Nadal, Chairman/CEO, MDC Partners said on a Thursday conference with analysts and investors. "We are well ahead of our initial expectations and our pipeline is very full."

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There's no one category that is credited with driving the company’s quarterly growth, but rather executives pointed to the holding company's well-rounded and balanced portfolio. "We have done a good job with diversification of our business," says Nadal.

Now, MDC's top 10 clients generate less than 25% of business. "We have focused on the efficiency of operations, optimized our portfolio, and are investing in higher margin initiatives," says Nadal. Another asset in pursuing new business is the company’s ability to offer a full range of services, including social media, PR, analytics, and creative, per Nadal. Plus, "we are paid for performance, not just for time invested," he says.

Meanwhile, MDC was a very large beneficiary of the failed Omnicom-Publicis merger. "We benefited in three ways," says Nadal. "First, we picked up talent at an accelerated rate. We saw talent from both agencies, but more Publicis than Omnicom. Then, we won a significant amount of business from both agencies. And during the proposed merger and afterward, there wasn't much competition for merger and acquisitions so there was a field of opportunity without much competition."

Looking forward, Nadal said the company’s "business pipeline is full of increasingly large and global opportunities as our agencies scale their capabilities." It continues to seek acquisitions and although new business is typically front-end loaded, executives say new business in the back half of the year will be stronger than last year. Two of the four agencies currently competing for the Infiniti account are MDC agencies: Crispin, Porter + Bogusky and Anomaly. 


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