Omnicom sees 14% decline in Q4 income

Tue, 10 Feb 2009

Omnicom Group has announced that net income for the fourth quarter of 2008 decreased 13.7% to $271m (£181m) from $313m (£211m) for the same period last year.

The marketing services group which owns BBDO, DDB and TBWA/Worldwide amongst other agency networks, says that the decline in advertising spend contributed significantly to the fall.

The group says worldwide revenue has decreased 7% to $3,371m (£2,267m) from $3,626m (£2,438m) in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Speaking in an earnings call, Omnicom chief executive John Wren (pictured) said the last quarter was “probably the most challenging quarter the company’s faced since 1992.” He added he thinks “the first nine months of this year are going to be difficult.”

However, worldwide revenue for the 12 months ending December 31 2008 increased 5.2% to $13,359m (£8,983m) from $12,694m (£8,536m) for the same period in 2007.

Net income for the twelve months ended December 31 2008 also increased by 2.5% to $1,000m (£672m) from $975m (£656m) for the same period in 2007.