Pearson:  Another update (Jan trading statement) and another slippage in underlying expectations as US educational markets continue to decline and with even the 70p per share FY13 guidance relying on some exceptional massaging of the ‘adjusted’ tax rate. Without an early turn in this market cycle and Pearson’s own internal investment programme unlikely to deliver […]
Continue reading
Still faced with a structural deleveraging in personal and public debt, the policy response by those who ought to know better remains the same – juice the system and hope growth miraculously appears. That’s right, the same strategy as adopted for Greece, Portugal, Spain, France etc, etc, & etc. After the >+10% MoM rise in […]
Continue reading
Will you be see the collapse in the property market coming? There is an entire industry of vested interests out there to ensure that you don’t. You have a Government whose declared purpose is to juice demand and support funding with its various schemes to encourage the consumer to put themselves further into hock at […]
Continue reading
WPP’s Q3 revenue numbers today were solid, but with few real surprises. Year on year organic revenue growth of +5.0% maintained the similar rate already reported for July while also being slightly ahead of rivals Omnicom and Publicis. Scanning the numbers being reported there are four main points that stand out. 1) UK organic revenue […]
Continue reading
My iPhone weather App is like a set of Agency results. It gives me a largely coincidental view of the weather if I don’t want to look out of the window, but is pretty useless as a meaningful forecasting tool. With two of the big four agencies reporting, are we much the wiser? Omnicom edged […]
Continue reading
Am I missing something here? No sooner than central bankers on both sides of the pond had impressed upon us the importance of managing expectations and newsflow for fickle markets, than Bernanke throws us a very curved ball. Was this the same person that has for months been sending out signals of tapering QE, that […]
Continue reading
Oh la la, Omnicom is to be bracketed by Publicis to become part of the greater “Publicis Omnicom Groupe” with deal to be signed in Paris rather than New York or a neutral country. Does this mean a corporate coup for the French or will the emergence of a balanced board and possible removal of […]
Continue reading
Business struggles to deliver above market organic growth and therefore resorts to sector consolidation to cut costs and obscure the maturing growth profile. It is a well enough used stratagem. Pharma has been there and done it, Telecom consolidation is currently in full flood and once again, major consolidation is being proposed in the marketing […]
Continue reading