• Interpublic Group (calendar Q3)
The US-headquartered agency giant posted a Q3 net loss of $327.1 million (€282.0m; £195.3m), as revenues increased 2.3% to $1.4 billion. Excluding acquisitions and divestments, however, revenues slipped 1.7% -- in contrast to the organic growth reported by rivals WPP Group and Omnicom Group.
IPG profits were hit by a series of charges, including $57.1m for restructuring, a writedown of the value of sports marketing unit Octagon Worldwide, and $127.6m (mostly in stock) to cover the cost of lawsuits connected with financial problems at McCann-Erickson.
• T-Online (calendar Q3)
Europe's biggest ISP -- 71.9%-owned by Deutsche Telekom -- reported its first ever net profit with earnings of €3m in the three months to September. Sales surged by over 20% to €452m as it added 231,000 customers in the quarter.
• Lufthansa (calendar Q1-Q3)
The German airline recorded a net loss of €409m for the first nine months of 2003, down from €344m profit in the same period last year. However, a recent restructuring seems to be paying off -- Lufthansa made an operating profit of €200m in Q3, compared with an operating loss of €354m in the first six months of the year.
Data sourced from: multiple sources; additional content by WARC staff
