Member Info for kularatnam

Jcj07, A good article.

Again it is from Media Monks. AI impact will be reduction in Cost of Production, which in turn can reduce the amount you can Invoice ( sales). Equally the agencies will need to have highly skilled personnel only, so the possibility of higher shrinkage in staffing. The end result over a period would be flat or lower revenue with a very low cost base, and I doubt agencies will compromise on margins. S4 margin target is 25%. GLA

Very very low volume. Spread high 5%. Looked at the trades pattern , of the 22 trades only 2 AT ( sells)and the rest are Off book. Average 5 minutes between trades.

By the way, can anyone explain why the spread is so high, please.

Https://medium.com/@renzzemistal/can-ai-replace-an-ad-agency-155af902a54f

A lengthy Article and I don't know much about the writer, but some useful points are there. The conclusion seems interesting.

VII. Final Verdict

Right now, it seems AI can help in some parts of the process, from ideation of the actual plan to conceptualizing the visuals for the big idea/proposal.

But a lot of those will still need supervision from your accounts, creatives, strategists to ensure that it fits the brief and what the team understands about the client. Storytelling will also still be key in pitching to clients alongside the most important thing, which is to understand the audience, the human who we are trying to convince and reach.

But what about the future — with its continued improvement, I can see an ad agency run by a few people with a majority of the usual advertising functions done by AI. Is this good or bad? Hard to say for now, advertising is still communication and at the heart of that is talking to people so it might be a question of who is better at talking to people? Fellow humans or AI?

Incidentally the recent Burger KIng promotion in done by Media Monks

https://www.marketingdive.com/news/burger-king-generative-ai-whopper-media-monks-campaign/706878/

S4 has a mandate to buy upto 10% or 57 mn shares over a period of time. £2.7 mn is 1% and it is the beginning. It is not sensible to announce larger buy backs at once.

Jcj07, thanks for those positive words.

Thank you Jcj07.

I am not getting into a debate here and your points are taken, but I will take a wait see approach whether things will will turn out the way you predicted.

JC07

"There is just no hope with this dog of a company, no wonder they keep getting their forecasts wrong with the people they employ!"

So what is your view on this company by this time next year.

Listen from the "horse's mouth". Very interesting and positive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ht0umdXnLo

Has it made any change/difference - sentiment, price or volume - in the positive? Absolutely nothing. In fact it is distressing.

More disturbing is the approach/strategy of the broker appointed to do the job. Initially they started buying @ 44/45 levels, more than 11% of todays prices. Now seems to be not actively buying at these low. I would have expected their actions to stabilize the market and get some momentum. Nothing of that sort. GLA.

These high volumes may, possibly, be sales by FS Gaming. It could then pave the way for the Gambling Commission to complete its investigation and clear 888 of any wrong doing and keep the license in tact.

Https://videos.ces.tech/detail/video/6344567125112/media.monk-s-co-ceo-content-wesley-ter-haar-in-the-c-space-studio-%E2%80%93-ces-2024

In an earlier post I mentioned about the various Awards - AI Ad Agency - and merits of recognition Media Monks won.

But what more happened are in my view are the rebranding, reorganization and consolidation of last of the different brands acquired over the years. This could also have resulted in rationalization of staffing and as a consequence head count reduction. There were also a number of High Profile hires - Ben Lee, Dave Carey, Mathew Godfrey etc.

Miyagi rebranded as Media monks Milan - took two years. But the most notable is the forming of formula. Monks.

https://www.formula.co/s4-capital

I feel it is something special as it has a separate and slightly different web site, which I believe no other monk family has. Very impressive record of blue chip client engagements, people and services.

All these developments would have cost the company more , but looks like they are moving in the right direction to move forward to the next stage of growth, as often spelled by SMS.

GLA

Verney, No problem.

If I find anything more I will update.

Verney, I don't know which site are looking at. But in their website under

https://media.monks.com/work-inventory, you will find the projects/work they did. But unfortunately since dates are not mentioned one wouldn't know whether these works relates to 2023. But I just saw the work for BMW - the model is BMW1X2 - launched in 2023, so work should have been in 2023. May be you have to do more research.

Read the Article and a quote "But Sir Martin, 78, has said he won't be shifting S4's London listing any time soon.

'We must get our business right and that's the first thing. There is a reason American companies are valued more highly and that is because they are better companies, with a better record,' he said.

'If we transferred our listing to America, we wouldn't get the coverage. You're a smaller fish in a bigger pond.' "

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-12915997/London-stock-exchange-risks-backwater-says-Sir-Martin-Sorrell.html

By more than 10% in digital. S4 should out perform the industry norms.

https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/392325/credit-ratings-giant-sp-begins-24-with-bullish-a.html

Https://www.cityam.com/can-the-london-stock-exchange-survive-another-relentless-exodus-in-2024/

Take Over/ Take private might be an option since S$ is grossly undervalued in the market.

Ascential Plc sold two of its businesses - digital marketing & design- to Omnicom & others for little more than£1.2bn.Omnicom deal concluded yesterday. Revenue and EBITDA are roughly £330mn & £56 mn respectfully, valuing 4 times of the revenue and 20 + times of Ebitda. That is the kind of valuations digital businesses command.

In the case of S$ one should not harp too much on the negativity of the performance for 2023.Fundamentals are strong, solid business base, long term prospects good. Even now EBITDA of £80 to £100. Q4 update will affirm this.

GLA

Https://www.forbes.com/sites/bethkindig/2023/12/27/ad-spending-growth-to-accelerate-in-2024/?sh=214bfaa46758

Anything is possible in this market - it has had a range of 45 p to 800 p.- and no one can answer the outcome and be spot on. But considering the fluctuations in the last few months in the sub 50 s it always welcome to see a price tag of 150p, what !!! 200 % increase. Why look at anything above of that figure at the moment.

On the issue of business contracting it is only this year it happened. Let it be an aberration. It has grown from a revenue of£138mn in 2018 to almost £1 bn in 2022 and it is around that figure in 2023 as well