The next focusIR Investor Webinar takes places on 14th May with guest speakers from Blue Whale Growth Fund, Taseko Mines, Kavango Resources and CQS Natural Resources fund. Please register here.
I'm not an experienced investor but it seems to me the SP has been hit by a triple whammy. First the accounting debacle of last year, then short sellers preventing SP recovery and now Sorrell's health scare. This is without the general market malaise caused by the Ukraine war.
I haven't seen any updates on MS's health but I note he is speaking at this event today.
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/tv-advertising-summit
Another factor is S4 Capital's clients aren't doing so well either
https://www.ft.com/content/e4f2b787-283f-4872-916f-92d096fc7120
Yes I agree but their target price would be 182 or below would it not? In order they can get their money back. Hopefully they are swimming against the tides as we now see the share price rising again. Might they cut their losses?
Stephen Foster from 'More About Advertisisng' writes ...
Sorrell says third quarter like-for-like gross profit (not actual profit) rose 29% to nearly £250m although real profit seems to be somewhere in the distance. S4 shares rallied on Monday although they fell back in early trading today, valuing the company at £1.25bn. Still not bad for five years of work.
Commenting, Sorrell said that the digital tide had not gone into reverse although many big tech companies such as Facebook clearly have. S4 seems able to pile on revenue, its problems with overstaffing and other issues may indicate it’s not able to charge enough. Its headcount fell slightly in the period, to just below 9,000.
As much as anything, the problem for S4 is that while at first it seemed to be riding an unstoppable digital tide it doesn’t look anywhere near as unstoppable any more. Digital accounts for 75% of adspend in some markets so it has to stop somewhere. Some estimates say that digital growth next year will be just 3.6% globally, a dramatic fall from the double digits that have become the norm.
New Twitter boss Elon Musk is hardly helping with many advertisers and big media agencies (IPG’s and Omnicom’s are the latest) running a mile.