Interpublic Group (IPG) has announced a net revenue decline of 12.8 per cent year on year in its second quarter earnings report.
The American headquartered media giant described the result as “perhaps not as severe as we might have anticipated” given the global turmoil at present.
The news follows on from Omnicom’s rather calamitous numbers yesterday and M&C Saatchi’s more pleasing results today.
Announcing IPG’s numbers overnight, the holding company’s CEO Michael Roth (main photo) said: “The decrease was perhaps not as severe as we might have anticipated or have seen elsewhere in our industry. Spending by our largest clients held up relatively well.”
In short, IPG’s books looked this way:
- Net revenue of $US1.85 billion was down 12.8 per cent from this time last year.
- Organic net revenue was down 9.9 per cent.
- Second quarter reported net loss was $US45.6 million (including restructuring charges, which hit $US112.6 million).
- Roth revealed there had been staff cuts across “most of our agencies”.
- Expenses decreased 5.4 per cent to $US1.31 billion. Savings were brought on by reductions in base salaries, bonuses, other benefits and “tax”.
- Auto, finance and transportation were revealed as the hardest hit parts of the business.
During the height of the pandemic, IPG revealed that 95 per cent of its global workforce were working remotely. It said half of its Asian operations had now returned to the office, while the number was 30 per cent for Europe. Australian figures were not reported.
Roth added: “As expected, our results bear the imprint of the severity of the health crisis and its economic impact. However, our companies and our people have adjusted quickly to these uncertain times and new ways of working, as evident in our results, which once again show IPG outperforming the sector.
“IPG furthered our progress in the most contemporary disciplines, including media, data and technology offerings, as well as our healthcare marketing offerings.
“When this does turn around, we will be lean, mean and positioned to outperform,” he said.
