Regulatory News:
JCDecaux SA (Paris:DEC), the number one outdoor advertising
company in Europe and Asia-Pacific and the number two worldwide and No.1
in self-service bicycle hire, published today its business review for
the third quarter 2009.
1.
THIRD
QUARTER 2009: BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS
1.1
Key contract wins
Middle East
Qatar
-
In July, JCDecaux announced that q.media Decaux (a joint venture
between q.media and JCDecaux) has been awarded a 10-year contract for
Villaggio mall, the most prestigious and highly frequented mall in
Doha, the capital of Qatar.
Boasting a floor area of 153,000 sqm with over 3,500 parking spaces,
Villaggio houses a collection of international high-end brands and is
expected to receive around 14 million footfall in 2009. Resembling an
Italian hill town, this heavily themed mall features a 150-meter long
indoor canal with gondolas. Other facilities include a cinema, an
Olympic-sized ice rink and an upcoming family entertainment centre.
1.2
Acquisitions
Europe
Germany
-
On September 15th, JCDecaux also announced that it has become the
majority shareholder of the Berlin based outdoor advertising company
Wall AG. With the purchase of the shares formerly held by the
company’s founder Hans Wall JCDecaux increased its holding in Wall AG
to 90.1%. Daniel Wall, currently holding 9.9% in Wall AG, will
continue to be the Chief Executive Officer. The transaction requires
the regulatory approval of the German competition authority.
In 2008 Wall reported total revenues of € 114.7 million with nearly
62.000 high quality advertising panels, 85% of which are located in
Germany. Wall AG is the number two outdoor advertising company in this
country as well as in Turkey, with long term advertising contracts in
cities such as Berlin, Duesseldorf, Dortmund, Muenster and Istanbul.
1.3
Other
Europe
France
-
In September, JCDecaux announced that its self-service bicycle hire
schemes around the world have achieved 100 million individual rentals
since the self-hire bicycles were first made available.
Since the launch of the self-service bicycle hire concept in Vienna
(Austria) in 2003, followed by Cordoba and Gijon in Spain, and the
successful development of the scheme in France with Vélo’v in Lyon in
2005, a growing number of towns and cities have benefitted from
JCDecaux’s innovative service: Santander and Seville (Spain), Brussels
(Belgium), Dublin (Ireland), Brisbane (Australia/launch in 2010), Paris
and 30 municipalities in the Paris suburbs, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence,
Toulouse, Rouen, Besançon, Mulhouse, Amiens, Luxembourg, Nantes and
Nancy in addition to the inter-municipal structures of La Plaine and
Cergy-Pontoise, representing a total of 60 towns and cities that have
already generated 100 million individual rentals. Thanks to its easily
accessible, exclusive electronic payment system, JCDecaux enables users
to take out a subscription for one day, one week or one year,
considerably simplifying the rental process for users.
2.
THIRD
QUARTER REVENUES AND OUTLOOK
JCDecaux announced today its revenues for the three months ended 30
September, 2009. On a reported basis, revenues decreased by 12.9% to
€431.8 million compared to €495.6 million in the same period last year.
Excluding acquisitions and the impact of foreign exchange, organic
revenues decreased by 12.1%, reflecting challenging and volatile
advertising market conditions for the three divisions and most
geographies of the Group during the quarter, despite some volume
improvements in September. Core advertising revenues, excluding revenues
related to the sale, rental and maintenance of street furniture
products, decreased by 12.9% organically.
Reported revenues for the first nine months of 2009 decreased by 13.2%
to €1,357.2 million compared to €1,563.2 million in the same period last
year. Excluding acquisitions and the impact of foreign exchange, organic
revenues decreased by 13.2% during the first nine months of 2009.
|
Q3 Revenues
|
|
2009
(€m)
|
|
2008
(€m)
|
|
Reported growth (%)
|
|
Organic
growth
(1)
(%)
|
|
Street Furniture
|
|
202.7
|
|
232.1
|
|
-12.7%
|
|
-10.8%
|
|
Transport
|
|
138.6
|
|
153.1
|
|
-9.5%
|
|
-10.7%
|
|
Billboard
|
|
90.5
|
|
110.4
|
|
-18.0%
|
|
-17.0%
|
|
Total
|
|
431.8
|
|
495.6
|
|
-12.9%
|
|
-12.1%
|
|
9-month Revenues
|
|
2009
(€m)
|
|
2008
(€m)
|
|
Reported growth (%)
|
|
Organic
growth
(1)
(%)
|
|
Street Furniture
|
|
647.4
|
|
758.6
|
|
-14.7%
|
|
-12.6%
|
|
Transport
|
|
428.6
|
|
452.6
|
|
-5.3%
|
|
-10.1%
|
|
Billboard
|
|
281.2
|
|
352.0
|
|
-20.1%
|
|
-18.6%
|
|
Total
|
|
1,357.2
|
|
1563.2
|
|
-13.2%
|
|
-13.2%
|
(1)
excluding acquisitions/divestitures and the impact of
foreign exchange
Street Furniture revenues decreased by 12.7% to €202.7 million
from €232.1 million in the third quarter of 2008. Excluding acquisitions
and the impact of foreign exchange, organic revenues decreased by 10.8%
over the period. Core organic advertising revenues, excluding revenues
related to the sale, rental and maintenance of street furniture
products, decreased by 12.4%.
Negative organic revenue growth rates were recorded in most developed
markets during the third quarter as the weaker demand in July and August
was not offset by the volume improvements of most markets in September.
France reported a mid single-digit revenue decrease in the third quarter
on the back of almost flat like-for-like sales in September. The United
Kingdom also recorded an improving performance in September but organic
revenues still decreased double-digit during the third quarter. Rest of
Europe reported a double-digit organic revenue decline in the third
quarter reflecting tough conditions in Scandinavia, Central and Eastern
Europe and despite early improvements in Germany in September. North
America continued to record double-digit revenue decreases in the third
quarter while the Middle East and Latin America achieved a robust
double-digit revenue increase over the quarter.
Transport revenues decreased by 9.5% to €138.6 million from
€153.1 million in the third quarter of 2008. Excluding acquisitions and
the impact of foreign exchange, organic revenues decreased by 10.7%.
Most European markets recorded double-digit organic revenue decreases
during the period with conditions in the United Kingdom and to a lesser
extent France being very challenging over the period. Asia-Pacific
recorded a double-digit organic revenue decrease driven by a sharp
contraction of advertising revenues in Hong Kong partly mitigated by a
mid single-digit organic revenue decrease in mainland China as sales
picked up in September and 2008 comparables became less demanding post
Olympic Games. North America reported a low double-digit organic revenue
decline, in line with the performance achieved during the second quarter
of 2009.
The revenues generated by newly operated contracts such as the Dubai and
Algiers airports remained robust during the quarter.
Billboard revenues decreased by 18.0% to €90.5 million from
€110.4 million in the third quarter of 2008. Excluding acquisitions and
the impact of foreign exchange, organic revenues were down by 17.0%.
The European billboard market continued to be characterized by very weak
and volatile demand, which sustained price competition between other
media. However, the business conditions in some markets - mainly France
and the United Kingdom - gradually improved during the quarter leading
to an overall low double-digit organic revenue decline in September
mitigating the weak performance in July.
Commenting on the third quarter revenues and prospects for 2009,
Jean-François Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-Chief
Executive Officer, said:
“As expected and previously indicated, JCDecaux reported a
double-digit organic revenue decline for the third quarter of 2009
reflecting the impact of the economic downturn on the global advertising
market. Even though business remained very challenging during the
quarter revenues declined less than in the second quarter of the year as
some markets – most noticeably France and mainland China – slightly
improved in September.
We believe that the advertising market bottomed out in the Summer and
while some further improvement is anticipated in Q4, in part due to
comparables, we are not yet seeing sustained signs of an advertising
recovery and business continues to be volatile.
We now expect the
organic revenue decline for the year to be around 12.5% compared to
growth of 6.3% achieved in 2008, one of the strongest performances in
the media sector last year. Q4 will show the smallest decline of any
quarter in 2009. This, combined with the earlier measures to optimise
JCDecaux's cost structure, is expected to lead to 2009 operating margin
as a percentage of revenue being slightly ahead of that achieved in the
first half.
We remain confident that the structural changes in the media industry
– broadcast fragmentation and online developments – will make outdoor
increasingly attractive to advertisers as the last urban mass medium. We
continue to focus on our cost saving program and to selectively allocate
capital investment to optimise the outcome on the Group’s free cash flow
when economic conditions improve.”
3.
FINANCIAL
SITUATION
The organic revenue decrease achieved in the third quarter of 2009
(-12.1%) was mostly driven by the Billboard division while the Street
Furniture and the Transport divisions showed slightly better resilience
to the deteriorated advertising market conditions.
The Group expects the organic revenue decline for the year to be around
12.5%. Operating margin will be impacted by the lower revenues but
should benefit from the cost optimisation program leading 2009 operating
margin as a percentage of revenue being slightly ahead of that achieved
in the first half of 2009.
JCDecaux continues to have a strong balance sheet with net debt of
€695.4 million as at 30 September 2009 down €76.1 million from 30
September 2008. In addition, the Group has available committed credit
facilities in the amount of €735.0 million.
JCDecaux