Aegis Group Share Discussion Threads

[grupo guitarlumber] 05/7/2004 07:44

RNS Number:4753A
Aegis Group PLC
05 July 2004

5 July 2004

Aegis Group PLC
Pre Close Period Update



Aegis Group PLC ("Aegis") the media and market research group, issues the
following pre close period update ahead of its interim results announcement on 7
September 2004.



Trading has continued in line with the AGM statement made on 26 May 2004, with
revenues comfortably ahead of last year in all three geographic regions. Both
Aegis Media and Synovate are making good progress.



Market Background

Trends in the adspend market remain positive, with the group's March forecast of
2004 global adspend growth of 5.3% now looking slightly conservative. Clients
also continue to spend more on custom market research with spending patterns in
line with earlier forecasts of global spending growth of some 3.5%.



Aegis Media

In Aegis Media, Europe is showing respectable growth, although not yet at the
pace of the US or Asia. The southern European countries are performing well
although the French and German markets remain difficult for the industry as a
whole. Posterscope and Vizeum are performing particularly strongly. In the US
and Asia, Aegis Media continues to outperform the growth of their respective
markets.



Synovate

Synovate is gaining market share, deriving clear benefit from a now well
established European network, and attracting global mandates that are having a
strongly beneficial effect. The recently expanded Synovate Healthcare is
performing particularly well. The group continues to invest in infrastructure to
maintain the revenue momentum, and to position it to benefit from the changing
needs of its clients.



Corporate Development

The group's programme of corporate development continues with the acquisition in
June of Proactive Insight, a leading South African market research business, and
the flotation in Hong Kong of QJY Media Services Co Ltd, the group's Chinese
television production associate. The offering of new shares in QJY was
comfortably over subscribed, and trading commenced at a healthy premium to the
issue price. This morning the group announced the formation of Isobar, a new
organisation to bring together all the group's interactive 1 to 1 brand response
businesses, an important and rapidly expanding part of Aegis Media. Further
developments in this area are expected in the latter part of the year.



The strength of the pound continues to hold back the growth in the group's
results when translated from local currencies into sterling, with the US dollar
down almost 10% and the Euro down over 2% compared with the same period last
year. The trend towards increasing seasonality seen in recent years is also
continuing.



The group nonetheless expects to demonstrate further good progress at the
interim results and remains on track to deliver a result for the year in line
with its earlier expectations.



Ends



Enquiries:

Aegis Group PLC
Jeremy Hicks
(44) 20 7070 7700


Financial Dynamics
Tim Spratt/ Charles Palmer
(44) 20 7831 3113




This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

TSTUUUAAMUPCUQA


Aegis Grp.(AGS)

[maut too] 05/7/2004 07:42

Tomkin - 5 Jul'04 - 07:40 - 29 of 29 (Filtered) (idiot)

[tomkin] 05/7/2004 07:40

you wet the bed again mauti - up and spamming early today.... hope you have written permission for all the copywrite stuff you are posting...

[maut too] 05/7/2004 07:37

CAS Aegis Group : Sees trading in line
05-Jul-2004 07:02
Aegis Group the media and market
research group, today announced the
trading has continued in line with the
AGM statement made on 26 May 2004, with
revenues comfortably ahead of last year
in all three geographic regions. Both
Aegis Media and Synovate are making
good progress.
Trends in the adspend market remain
positive, with the group's March
forecast of 2004 global adspend growth
of 5.3% now looking slightly
conservative. Clients also continue to
spend more on custom market research
with spending patterns in line with
earlier forecasts of global spending
growth of some 3.5%.
In Aegis Media, Europe is showing
respectable growth, although not yet at
the pace of the US or Asia. The
southern European countries are
performing well although the French and
German markets remain difficult for the
industry as a whole. Posterscope and
Vizeum are performing particularly
strongly. In the US and Asia, Aegis
Media continues to outperform the
growth of their respective markets.
Synovate is gaining market share,
deriving clear benefit from a now well
established European network, and
attracting global mandates that are
having a strongly beneficial effect.
The recently expanded Synovate
Healthcare is performing particularly
well. The group continues to invest in
infrastructure to maintain the revenue
momentum, and to position it to benefit
from the changing needs of its clients.
The group's programme of corporate
development continues with the
acquisition in June of Proactive
Insight, a leading South African market
research business, and the flotation in
Hong Kong of QJY Media Services Co, the
group's Chinese television production
associate. The offering of new shares
in QJY was comfortably over subscribed,
and trading commenced at a healthy
premium to the issue price.
This morning the group announced the
formation of Isobar, a new organisation
to bring together all the group's
interactive 1 to 1 brand response
businesses, an important and rapidly
expanding part of Aegis Media. Further
developments in this area are expected
in the latter part of the year.
The strength of the pound continues to
hold back the growth in the group's
results when translated from local
currencies into sterling, with the US
dollar down almost 10% and the Euro
down over 2% compared with the same
period last year. The trend towards
increasing seasonality seen in recent
years is also continuing.
The group nonetheless expects to
demonstrate further good progress at
the interim results and remains on
track to deliver a result for the year
in line with its earlier expectations.

ICV Edited News from Dow Jones
0602 GMT Jul 05 2004

[gchklf] 25/6/2004 11:27

This looks good for .95...anyone agree?

[maut too] 23/6/2004 09:50

a snippet from Telegraph




Aegis buy

Aegis, the media communications and market research group, has bought South African research business Proactive Insight for a maximum of £10.1m.

[maut too] 23/6/2004 09:49

Aegis Group (AGS)
Price: 87.50p RiskGrade: 137
View the latest news for Aegis Group at Digital Look
Receive a free copy of the latest annual report for Aegis Group

• Broker Forecasts
Fiscal year end: 2003-12-31
Sales per share: 57.00p (57.00p)
EPS: 4.86p (4.86p)
EPS Growth: 11.92% (11.92%)
Dividend: 1.32p (1.32p)

Fiscal year end: 2004-12-31
Sales per share: 60.00p (60.00p)
EPS: 5.34p (5.34p)
EPS Growth: 11.02% (11.02%)
Dividend: 1.44p (1.44p)

Fiscal year end: 2005-12-31
Sales per share: 63.00p (63.00p)
EPS: 5.82p (5.81p)
EPS Growth: 9.48% (9.28%)
Dividend: 1.54p (1.54p)


• Broker Recommendations
Strong Buy: 5 (5)
Buy: 7 (7)
Neutral: 3 (3)
Sell: 0 (0)
Strong Sell: 0 (0)
Total: 15 (15)

Note: numbers in brackets denote last week's figure

[maut too] 22/6/2004 14:07

CAS Aegis Group : Acquires South African co
22-Jun-2004 14:01
Aegis Group PLC said today that it has
acquired Proactive Insight, a South
African research business.
Aegis, a media communications company,
said the purchase price is composed of
an initial consideration of
approximately #3.4m payable in cash on
completion.
There is also deferred cash
consideration payable over three years,
up to a maximum of #6.7m, subject to
rigorous performance criteria.
For the year ended Feb. 29, 2004
Proactive Insight had revenues of
approximately #6.1m.
Proactive Insight is a leading South
African full service research business
with over 300 employees, and offices
and data collection facilities in
Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, West
Rand and Pretoria.
The company has particularly good
expertise in the automotive, financial
and IT sectors and services a number of
blue chip multinational clients.
Doug Flynn, Chief Executive of Aegis
said: "This acquisition provides
Synovate with a significant footprint
in South Africa where Proactive Insight
is ranked amongst the top three largest
market research companies.
He said Synovate and Proactive Insight
have already been working together for
some time and recently co-pitched and
won 50% of the South Africa Advertising
Research Foundation (SAARF) contract, a
project which has a total value of more
than #8.5m over four years.

ICV Edited News from Dow Jones
1301 GMT Jun 22 2004

[maut too] 28/5/2004 12:47

CAS Aegis Group : Holding in company
28-May-2004 11:50

COMPANY: AEGIS GROUP
SHAREHOLDER: HARRIS ASSOCIATES
Shares acquired: 1,907,300
Percentage of issued class: 0.17%
Class of security: ORDINARY
Date of transaction: 26/5/04
Date company informed: 28/5/04
Total holding: 101,017,200
Total percentage: 9.08%

ICV Edited News from Dow Jones
1050 GMT May 28 2004

[maut too] 27/5/2004 00:13

Shareholders vote down Aegis pay deal
By Damian Reece indy
27 May 2004


Shareholders in Aegis, the media-buying agency, finally lost patience with the company and hit back at a £2.35m "payment for failure" enshrined in the contract of Doug Flynn, its chief executive.

Led by the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), shareholders took the dramatic step of voting down the company's remuneration report at yesterday's annual meeting.

It is the most significant shareholder revolt since the remuneration report of GlaxoSmithKline was rejected last year. The NAPF has decided to get tough with companies that still insist on flouting corporate governance best practice.

Angry investors were objecting to the terms of Mr Flynn's severance pay, which is set at two years' salary plus twice his annual bonus.

In 2003 he was paid a basic salary of £588,000 plus a cash bonus of another £588,000 that would give him a pay-off of £2.35m if Aegis wanted to terminate his contract.

In the separate event of Aegis being taken over, Mr Flynn would get two years' salary plus an amount equal to his bonus paid in the previous 12 months, plus benefits which last year were £32,000, giving him a pay-off of £1.8m.

Aegis said it would now consult with shareholders. However, it is understood to be surprised by the NAPF's actions. The association last year advised members to abstain on the issue of Mr Flynn's contract, which has been in place since 1999.

A spokesman for the NAPF was adamant that investors would no longer stand for excessive contracts.

"There are obviously concerns from the shareholders and the company would do well to listen to them," he said.

Despite yesterday's corporate governance setback, Aegis announced a positive start to its new financial year with revenues in the first quarter up 10.9 per cent and like-for-like sales up 4.8 per cent. Aegis said the outlook for the advertising market was marginally more positive than its previous forecasts.

[maut too] 26/5/2004 15:17

CAS Aegis Group : Chmn buys 10,000/86.75p
26-May-2004 15:12
Aegis Group announces that on 26 May
2004 Lord Sharman,
non-executive Chairman, purchased
10,000 ordinary shares at a price of
86.75p. His resultant holding is 35,000
shares.

ICV Edited News from Dow Jones
1412 GMT May 26 2004

[maut too] 26/5/2004 15:16

CAS Aegis Group : Renumeration not approved
26-May-2004 14:33

Aegis Group said today that
shareholders approved all resolutions
at the annual meeting, including those
re-electing board members save for
resolution 10, which related to the
approval of the remuneration which was
not passed.
The Chairman called for a poll vote in
respect of resolution 10.
The Board registers shareholders'
particular sensitivity to contractual
notice periods and payments on
termination. The Company will be
continuing its dialogue with
shareholders in light of the outcome of
today's vote in respect of the
Remuneration Report and will discuss
the appropriate steps which need to be
taken.
Shareholders holding 364,776,806
shares voted for resolutions 10,
shareholders holding 376,922,138 voted
against the resolution while holders of
24,421,396 shares witheld votes.

ICV Edited News from Dow Jones
1333 GMT May 26 2004

[maut too] 26/5/2004 11:53

CAS Aegis Group : Sees satisfactory FY results
26-May-2004 11:25
Chairman stated at today's AGM that
"The first four months' trading has
been positive with the advertising
market recovery taking hold in all of
the Group's key markets.
The Group's revenues are comfortably
ahead of last year in all three
geographic regions, with the company's
market research business carrying
forward a strong order book.
Trading for the period is ahead of
budget in constant currencies, and
although the current strength of the
pound impacts our results when
converted into sterling, the Group's
relatively high contribution of
revenues from the euro zone is offering
a measure of protection.
Group revenues in the first quarter
were 10.9% ahead of the same period in
2003, with organic revenue growth on a
like for like basis of 4.8%. Year on
year organic revenue growth at Aegis
Media was 5.3% and 4.0% at Synovate.
Net new business for Aegis Media in
the first quarter was well ahead of
last year, although not yet back to the
levels of 2002. Both Carat and Vizeum
are experiencing a better new business
pipeline. The group won net new
business of $285 million in the quarter
compared with $103 million in the same
period last year. This has been
achieved through both higher wins and
lower losses than last year, with
Europe particularly showing a marked
improvement.
Initiatives taken over the last 18
months in Vizeum, Posterscope,
Interactive and Synovate Healthcare are
all contributing to strong revenue
growth. Organisational changes made
within Aegis Media continue to produce
improved results and opportunities,
with Vizeum beginning to make real
progress. The process of integrating
the healthcare research business into a
single worldwide operation is under way
and Synovate's strengthened European
management team is identifying further
opportunities for expansion and
efficiency gains.
The outlook for the advertising market
is marginally more positive than our
previous forecasts.

ICV Edited News from Dow Jones
1025 GMT May 26 2004

[maut too] 19/5/2004 15:34

CAS Aegis Group : Holding in company
19-May-2004 15:23
Company
Aegis Group PLC

Shareholder
Harris Associates L.P.

Number of shares acquired.
4,492,000

Percentage of issued Class
0.4%

Class of security
Ordinary 5p shares

Date of transaction
12/5/04

Date company informed
18/5/04

Total holding following this
notification
93,402,500

Total percentage holding of issued
class following this notification
8.4%

ICV Edited News from Dow Jones
1423 GMT May 19 2004

[yf23_1] 18/5/2004 02:39

Gosh, but what are the 'peeps' doing ?

[maut too] 17/5/2004 12:29

CAS Aegis Group : Holding in company
17-May-2004 12:28
NAME OF SHAREHOLDER
AVIVA

Number of shares acquired
2,200,000, 0.2%

Class of security
ORD 5P SHARES

Date of transaction
12/5/04

Date company informed
14/5/04

Total holding
67,932,407, 6.11%

ICV Edited News from Dow Jones
1128 GMT May 17 2004

[utsushi] 04/5/2004 14:06

pkvideon

Politely ask your wife to look at WPP/Pearsons results/statements..the trend is in our favour..unfortunatley the share price is not!

[pkvidean] 02/5/2004 11:46

Yes, AGS has gone much lower than I expected but I think this can be explained by the fact that markets have effectively been in a Down phase since the second half of January 2004.........the performance of the FTSE (having only just peaked @ 4602 on 23/04) has partially masked this fact but the progress of the senior index has been absurdly flattered by the preponderance of Defensive stocks which have seriously out-performed.......some of which are themselves approaching bubble proportions.

AGS peaked @ 116.50p on 16/01 and @ 90.25p has therefore given back (22.53%) with probably more to follow in the very short-term but this is on a par with its sector peers and other good technology and cyclical stuff. My wife is giving me ear ache about it but I say relax and look to buy more next week.

The time is fast approaching where the correct play (if one believes that the alleged Bull market has a further Up phase waiting in the wings) is becoming all too obvious and can be summarised as sell Tobacco and buy Media.........but not quite yet!

[jules123] 30/4/2004 15:28

And down again....what would have happened if results had been poor? Lot of this about....see CSTL.

[utsushi] 29/4/2004 13:28

pkvidean

i agree...now however 94p?!

[maut too] 23/4/2004 11:25

Package for Aegis chief soars by 40%
Nick Goodway, Evening Standard
23 April 2004

AEGIS chief executive Doug Flynn picked up a 40% pay rise last year even though the media-buying group posted a mere 13% rise in headline profits.


Flynn's salary leap from £867,000 to £1.2m, including a cash bonus that doubled his £588,000 basic salary.


Investors were also stunned to discover that former directors Bruno Kermoun and Eryck Rebbouh, who resigned in November to pursue other interests, were each paid £735,000 compensation for loss of office, which took their earnings for the year to £1.38m each.



At the time of their shock resignation, Aegis suggested that they might collect payouts of about a third of that amount. Aegis continues to attract the wrath of corporate governance watchdogs with its continued rolling two-year contract for Flynn.


Other directors are on 12 months' notice but all directors have a golden parachute clause that would see them get two-year pay-offs in the event of the company being taken over.


Flynn also benefited from a £283,000 payment into his non-contributory pension fund and he collected a parcel of just over 1m free shares under the 2003 performance plan.


However, these shares will not be delivered until the end of the scheme in two years' time