• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, June 14, 2006

Conceding defeat in his attempt to gain representation on the board of London-based media agency holding company Aegis Group, French financier Vincent Bollore sounded more like the obsessively ardent Looney Toons character Pepe Le Pew than the savvy and calculated takeover artist he is known to be. "It's like a long love affair," he told financial reporters before the meeting. "We're very persistent and will be here for a long time."

As expected, a majority of Aegis shareholders rejected Bollore's nominations for seats on the company's board, following weeks of pleas from the company's directors that Bollore's interests represent an inherent conflict of interest, because he also is chairman of Paris-based rival Havas. Bollore, who now controls 29.1 percent of Aegis shares, was not seeking a seat for himself on the Aegis board, but nominated two well-known French businessmen to represent his interests: Philippe Germond, a former French telecommunications industry executive; and Roger Hatchuel, the former owner of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

Aegis said more than 76 percent of eligible votes were cast at the meeting, with 94 percent of the votes not controlled by Bollore.

"Given the good level of turnout and the strong support shown for the board's position, we hope that the suggestion of board representation for a single shareholder so closely connected to a competitor can now be put behind us," stated Colin Sharman, chairman of Aegis, adding, "From here it is business as usual: so far as we are concerned this was a single disagreement about a single issue of principle and we remain committed to an open and frank dialogue with all of our shareholders, including Groupe Bollore. In the mean time, we will continue to run the company to build outstanding value for all our shareholders."

The announcement followed the release of Aegis' interim financial results for 2006, which Sharman said were "broadly in line with our expectations," he said.

"We are delivering solid growth at both Aegis Media and Synovate, with total group revenues for the first quarter up 22 percent, and organic revenue growth of 6.1 percent," which he noted compares with a rate of 5.8 percent in the first quarter of 2005.

While final results for the first half will not be announced until Sept. 5, Sharman said, "These are expected to show good progress, reflecting both continued strong organic growth and the benefit of acquisitions."

He implied that the first half was relatively weaker due to the "seasonality" of the media industry, and that second half results would be stronger.

By division, Aegis Media's revenues rose 14.0 percent and organic revenues rose 5.0 percent during the first quarter, driven by $655 million in net new business gains during the quarter, including the worldwide consolidated media business of adidas-Reebok; the return of Afflelou from KR Media in France; and Gap in the US.

Aegis' research operations, Synovate, also continued to outperform the global market research industry during the quarter, with total revenues rising 36.0 percent and organic revenues climbing 7.8 percent.