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Brokerages Jefferies and Liberum cut their price targets on SFOR; Peel Hunt analysts say S4's AI efforts "will be a major advantage as client spend improves"
https://www.xm.com/research/markets/allNews/reuters/uks-s4-capital-inches-higher-after-mixed-trading-update-53835372
One positive, S4 announces 6 new clients in Q1. Burger King, Panasonic, FanDuel, AliExpress, Decathlon, Santander and ICBC.
New business and AI
New business activity continues at significant levels, particularly with a focus on personalisation at scale. New business wins in the first quarter include Burger King, Panasonic, FanDuel, AliExpress, Decathlon, Santander and ICBC. In addition, the Company continues to capitalise on its strong AI positioning winning multiple exploratory assignments as clients experiment and explore applications and develop use cases. These are currently focussed on visualisation and copywriting, personalisation at scale and general client and agency efficiency. Developments around media planning and buying and democratisation of knowledge are starting to build.
Interesting S4 Capital Q1 results presentation....... One analysts asked the question regarding future M&A in the sector going forward. Sir Martin's replay said that lower interest rates would help and that he knows that private equity has plenty of dry powder. Watch this space.
On 22/3/2024 it was reported in the Wall Street Journal (link enclosed below) that S4 Capital had received several merger offers from Stagwell, one offer worth almost $700m 96p per share. It was also reported that new York private equity firm Mountain Capital held exploratory talks with S4 last year about a possible acquisition.
https://archive.is/xIgUA
Morning Verney,
My opinion FWIW based on lower company revenue guidance for 2024, plus latest analysts forecasts who currently have FY revenue coming in at £909M down from actual £1.011.5Bln in 2023. My guess would be revenue to come in at Q1 2024 £220M.
Revenue 2023
Q1 £261.7M
Q2 £255.4M
Q3 £245.9M
Q4 £248.5M
I will ask the poster on ADVFN if he would post an update regarding S4 largest shareholders. Although, he's not commented for a while.
"Have they bought their buy back now?"
Morning Rock, yes the share buyback concluded in March after reaching the target of 6m shares 1% of the company. The plan is to start another buyback program sometime this financial year, along with a possible dividend. I personally don't want a dividend, I think that management should be buying back shares, anything below 100p.