MediaPost revealed IPG reported 1.3% growth in Q1—which is significantly less than the 9% pay hike that CEO Philippe Krakowsky pocketed in 2023.
The White holding company stated its strongest performers and main growth drivers were media operations, PR enterprises, and healthcare marketing. Although it’s not clear if the statement was drafted before IPG got spanked and yanked by Pfizer.
Krakowsky might have acknowledged the demotion while discussing the conservative corporate goal of 1%–2% organic revenue growth for the entire year by saying, “…a recent decision by a significant ongoing client will adversely impact the balance of this year and likely make achieving the top end of that target more challenging.”
It’s a pretty clear indicator that things are bad when leadership admits hitting a goal—a forecast representing lowering the bar to the lowest level—might be overly optimistic. After all, how would Krakowsky respond if staffers projected raising their performance standards up to 1%?
And if the White holding company is satisfied with 1% revenue growth, what does that say about the White advertising agencies that were shat, spun, and sold out of the network?
IPG Reports 1.3% Growth In Q1, In Line With Expectations
By Steve McClellan
Interpublic Group reported net revenue of $2.18 billion for the first quarter, up 0.3% on a reported basis with an organic gain (which excludes currency and M&A impact) of 1.3%, in line with the company’s previously stated outlook.
The company said that its media operations, healthcare marketing and PR units continued to perform strongly and were the main growth drivers in the quarter.
In the U.S., organic growth was 2.1%. Outside of the U.S., IPG reported a combined organic revenue decline of 0.5%.
Company CEO Philippe Krakowsky said that “marketer sentiment has begun to improve relative to the back half of last year” and that the company’s new business pipeline “is more active.”
For now IPG is sticking with previously stated guidance that it expects to achieve between 1% and 2% organic revenue growth for the full year. However, Krakowsky qualified the guidance, noting that “a recent decision by a significant ongoing client will adversely impact the balance of this year and likely make achieving the top end of that target more challenging.”
The firm still expects to deliver a pre-tax profit margin of 16.6%.
M&A this year will focus on broadening IPG’s commerce and digital transformation capabilities, Krakowsky said.
Pre-tax income for the quarter was $160.6 million. Adjusted earnings for the quarter excludes after-tax amortization of acquired intangibles of $16.5 million, after-tax restructuring charges of $500,000 and an after-tax loss of 7.9 million on the sales of undisclosed businesses.
No comments:
Post a Comment