Aegis Group Revs Soar 15% In First-Half 2012

Arrowup-MoneyAegis Group reported first-half revenue of $947 million, up 15% with a 10% profit gain close to $46 million.

Aegis’ first-half organic revenue growth (ORG), a key performance metric that excludes the impact of sales, acquisitions and currency fluctuations, was 8.6%. That’s on the high side, compared to a number of holding company competitors.

MDC Partners, for example, reported first-half ORG of just under 7%, while Omnicom posted 5.1% growth for the same period. Publicis and Interpublic reported first-half ORG of 2.8% and 1.7%, respectively.

Commenting on the company’s results, CEO Jerry Buhlmann stated that Aegis “continued to deliver its growth strategy, further increasing the revenue contribution from” both the company’s digital operations and from faster-growing geographic regions.

The company’s latest half-year financial performance report may be its last as an independent public company. In July, it agreed to be acquired by Tokyo-based ad holding company Dentsu for approximately $5 billion. Aegis shareholders approved the transaction by a wide margin last week. The companies said they expect the transition to close in the fourth quarter.

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The deal still must gain regulatory approval from a number of countries, where the companies do business, including the U.S. and UK, among others.

Aegis reported first-half net new business of $3.2 billion, driven by its January win of the global $3 billion-plus General Motors media assignment. By comparison, the company had net new business of $2 billion in the same period for 2011.

By region, Aegis reported robust growth in the Americas, where revenues soared 38% to $214 million with ORG of 19%. The company noted that the GM business is managed by Carat USA. In the Asia-Pacific region, revenues were up 17% to $184 million with ORG of almost 14%. The company cited China and Australia as top performers.

Revenues in the Europe Middle East and Africa region were up 5% to $485 million with organic growth of nearly 3%. Standout markets in the region were Russia, the UK and Turkey, per Aegis.

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