S4 Revenue Passes Billion Pound Mark

Sir Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital has reported full-year revenues of £1.07bn, representing like-for-like organic growth of 25.8%. Operational EBITDA was £124m, up sharply in H2 to over £90m versus £30m in H1.

The company continues to seek a total of twenty 'Whoppers', clients spending £20m or more per annum, and lost one, Mondelez, last year but gained four more, for a total of ten currently on the books. Fourteen more potential 'Whoppers' have been identified.

Among recent acquisitions, data consultancy 4 Mile Analytics performed below expectations but digital transformation platform TheoremOne and digital marketing agency XX Artists did well, according to the company.

Problems which prevented earnings from being reported on time a year ago have mostly been remedied, according to CFO Mary Basterfield: the firm also has stronger cost management measures now in place, including a slowdown in hiring. Head count as of December 31st was around 8,900, up from 7,700 a year earlier, but the figure is not expected to increase much this year.

By division, the Content practice posted 24% like-for-like net revenue growth, while Data&Digital Media grew 17% and the new Technology Services wing 72%. Geographically, Americas net revenue grew 27% and now accounts for 75.6% of the total; EMEA grew 31% and makes up 17.5% of the total; while Asia Pacific grew at just 4.8% and makes up some 6.9% of the total.

Sorrell (pictured) says the firm 'has momentum going into 2023' despite the slowdown of growth in its 'major addressable markets'; and sees AI as a major opportunity. According to former MediaMonks leader Wesley Ter Haar AI is 'another Iphone moment for our industry' and S4 has 'an early mover advantage' having been working with such applications for a number of years.

Web site: www.s4capital.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.