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S4 Capital PLC on Wednesday reported a widened full-year loss despite strong revenue growth as hiring costs impacted profitability in a challenging first half of the year.
The London-based advertising agency said profit performance in the second half was much improved, with significant cost management measures implemented, including a brake on hiring and discretionary cost controls.
For the 12 months to December 31, S4 Capital reported revenue of £1.07 billion, up 56% from £686.6 million a year prior, as the group continued to outperform both the digital advertising and transformation markets.
Billings jumped 46% to £1.89 billion from £1.30 billion.
However, pretax loss widened to £159.7 million from £55.7 million. This included charges of £249.4 million relating to share-based compensation, restructuring costs primarily related to headcount and the write down of 4Mile. No dividend was paid.
Geographically, on a like-for-like basis, the Americas net revenue growth was 27% and now accounts for 76% of total revenue. EMEA, accounting for 18% of the total, grew 31%, while Asia Pacific, accounting for the remaining 6.9%, grew 4.8%, chiefly reflecting the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns in China in 2022.
Looking ahead, the firm, founded by Sir Martin Sorrell, said digital platforms, which drive 90% of net revenue, are forecast to grow advertising revenue by around 7% to 8% in 2023. Technology services, which account for about 10% of net revenue, are expected to grow between 8% and 10%.
But S4 is hopeful of beating these forecasts and has set a like-for-like net revenue growth target for 2023 of between 8% and 12%.
Sorrell, Executive Chair of S4Capital said: ‘We have momentum going into 2023 and are cautiously optimistic.’
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