Alexander David Share Discussion Threads

[waldron] 01/3/2018 10:40

Sky (LSE:SKY)
Intraday Stock Chart

Today : Thursday 1 March 2018
Click Here for more Sky Charts.

--Negotiating deals with Sky will become more difficult as the bidding war for the European broadcaster intensifies, said Publicis Chairman Maurice Levy, according to marketing and media news website The Drum.

--On Tuesday, U.S. cable company Comcast presented a $31 billion bid for Sky, which was a surprise, reports The Drum, given than 21st Century Fox had agreed to pay $25.8 billion for the 61% stake in Sky it doesn't already own.

--"The Murdoch family" will be the only beneficiaries regardless of the outcome, Mr. Levy said Wednesday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and advertisers should prepare for tough negotiations, reports The Drum.

--Mr. Levy also said "whoever acquires Sky, at the end of the day, it will not be an independent [company]," and "the player will be bigger, the stake will be bigger and the ability to negotiate will be harder," The Drum reports.



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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 01, 2018 05:14 ET (10:14 GMT)

[waldron] 01/3/2018 10:39

By Nick Kostov

WPP PLC shares tumbled 13% Thursday after the company logged its worst year since the financial crisis and forecast no growth for 2018, a further sign of the heavy toll of advertising's digital revolution.

The world's largest ad company said it is setting budgets this year on the assumption that both revenue and net sales will be flat. For 2017, net sales were down 0.9% on a like-for-like basis, against a forecast they would be "broadly flat."

The company also said it is simplifying its unwieldy structure, accelerating its development from a group of individual companies to a "cohesive global team."

Like other big ad firms, WPP is grappling with the slowest revenue growth since the financial crisis as previously big-spending consumer-goods companies keep a tight lid on marketing budgets.

That slowdown in growth has pressured agency holding companies to revamp an organizational structure that is out of step with a digital age that favors relentless consumer targeting over the internet rather than traditional print and television ads.

"There are two things going on: technological change, and the second is short term pressures, whether it be zero-based budgeting, activists or private equity," Mr. Sorrell said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

"We're clear on the destination," Mr. Sorrell said. "The changes that are taking place are pushing us to do it faster."

Big ad firms built their businesses over the years by acquiring different specialists with their own ways of working and separate finances. Now there has been a move across the industry to align the different agencies closer together to allow clients to better access resources across their groups and cut costs. WPP executives often refer to its approach as "horizontality."

The company, which owns creative and media agencies such as J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather, reported a 1.3% decline in fourth-quarter organic net sales, a closely watched metric in the industry that excludes currency effects and acquisitions. That growth rate was below analysts' expectations of a roughly 0.7% rise.

In the fourth quarter, organic net sales were down 3.4% in North America, declined 2.6% in Western Continental Europe and dropped 3% in Asia Pacific. The bright spot was the U.K., which rose 9.1%.

WPP's closest competitors have been facing similar headwinds. France's Publicis Groupe SA posted organic growth of just 0.8% last year, while Omnicom Group Inc. posted lackluster fourth-quarter revenue, blaming a pullback by marketers on project work, losses at some independent-branded agencies and softness in its programmatic business.

Omnicom's longtime CEO, John Wren, said he expects the company to post softer organic growth this year compared with 2017 because of challenges in the marketplace like changes in technology, shareholder activism and new competitors.

The overall outlook for Madison Avenue remains cloudy. Ad companies are dealing with major slowdowns in industries that they have long relied upon for growth, such as consumer-goods giants and retailers. Those sectors are putting additional pressure on ad firms to reduce the fees they pay for services.

The slowdown in advertising spend has affected agency sector organic growth, which has slowed from 4.5% in 2015 to 1.9% in 2016 and to an expected 1.1% in 2017, UBS analysts wrote in a note this week.

In their note, the analysts cited a long list of challenges that the sector is facing, including marketers experiencing slower growth, companies continuing to cut the fees they pay agencies, and growing competition from consulting firms. Another challenge has been brands cracking down on nontransparent practices in the ad-buying sector, which industry observers say has squeezed holding company margins.

Write to Nick Kostov at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 01, 2018 04:36 ET (09:36 GMT)

[grupo] 26/2/2018 17:40

JCDecaux: 7-year contract in Singapore
JC Decaux SA. (US: DEC)
Intraday Chart of the Action

Today: Monday 26 February 2018
More charts of the JC Decaux SA Exchange.
(CercleFinance.com) - JCDecaux announced this Monday after trading have won an exclusive 7-year contract with the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to manage advertising and maintain 1.459 bus shelters in Singapore.

This deal will enable the world's leading outdoor communications company to expand its urban bus shelter network in the City-State, including the commercial and financial districts of Tanglin / Orchard / Scotts Roads and Shenton Way, as well as central areas. from Lavender Street, Beach Road and Tiong Bahru.

It includes 800 advertising faces, including digital screens, in particular on Orchard Road, thus offering a global digital outdoor communication network in the city.

This contract allows JCDecaux to consolidate its presence in Singapore, the bus shelter concession completing its portfolio in airports, shopping centers, cinemas and large format devices.

[ariane] 20/11/2017 19:02

The five largest agencies, with their estimated worldwide revenues in 2014:[1]

WPP Group, London $19.0 billion
Omnicom Group, New York City $15.3 billion
Publicis Groupe, Paris $9.6 billion
Interpublic Group, New York City $7.5 billion
Dentsu, Tokyo $6.0 billion

[obarmoth] 05/5/2015 08:24

It really is starting to get ridiculous now...

[dafrog] 07/4/2014 07:13

By the time you've deleted or avoided the pop up, or shrunk the print size on mobile to uncover the words, forgotten what was looking for. Appreciate afn has to make money but depriving viewers of info is not going to do much good.

[asmodeus] 07/8/2013 22:25

Have just found this:

02 Aug 2013
New Company Document Available
Form: CERTNM -
COMPANY NAME CHANGED ALEXANDER DAVID SECURITIES GROUP PLC
CERTIFICATE ISSUED ON 25/07/13

New Company Document Available
Form: CONNOT -
NOTICE OF CHANGE OF NAME NM01 - RESOLUTION


Company Name changed:
Was: ALEXANDER DAVID SECURITIES GROUP PLC
Now: MERCER RESOURCES PLC

[knigel] 21/6/2013 17:29

90% dilution not 900%? Will try to work out over the weekend what value is left for the current shareholders... (probably 0.02-0.03p at current pricing)

[tomboyb] 21/6/2013 16:45

Directors propose that all Preference Shares, Warrants and outstanding Directors' salaries are converted such that that every £1.00 converted, will convert into Ordinary Shares by a ratio of 1:10.63

For every 1 ord - prefs 10.63 ord? - current ord left 10% in total - 900% dilution.

Waffle + right rubbish -

[knigel] 21/6/2013 16:40

New RNS - i gave up reading it half way down. talk about hot air...

[smithie6] 27/5/2013 13:47

greedfear
u Barca based ?
if you want to chat about shares over a beer sometime...

[tomboyb] 23/5/2013 15:43

That makes sense -

[look alive] 23/5/2013 12:24

If the £380,000 is converted at 0.09p this equates to 422m shares. Add this to 743m shares already in issue makes 1.165m . If this is to represent 64% of the new total equity a further 655m shares need to be issued. To raise £200,000 minimum means a price of a fraction over 0.03p.

[tomboyb] 23/5/2013 10:04

A bit difficult considering caveat -

£200k for 36%
£380k to be converted -

Leaves current equity with ?

[greedfear] 22/5/2013 15:36

Considering what? You tell me.... lol
Suppose everybody is clueless.
It sure did not contribute to my better understanding of affairs.

[tomboyb] 22/5/2013 15:29

That it has -

[knigel] 22/5/2013 15:27

Well share price held up well considering..

[tomboyb] 22/5/2013 15:23

greedfear
22 May'13 - 16:12 - 298 of 299 0 0


Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like your opinion, man.

lol - do the math.