There was a further exhalation of relief by investors this week as Toronto-headquartered agency holding company MDC Partners delivered its first quarter results on time.
There had been an outbreak of nervous tics among the moneymen earlier this year after MDC twice delayed releasing its financials for the fourth quarter of 2004 along with its full year numbers. These were finally unveiled on 14 April [WAMN: 18-Apr-05].
Less than four weeks later, the numbers for Q1 2005 came in on schedule - albeit making less happy reading than the earlier dataset.
Despite healthy revenue growth of 35% to US$92 million (€71.45m; £48.86m), the quarter's results were doused in red ink, posting a loss of $3.8m or $0.17 a share. Year-on-year, this compared with a profit of $8.5m or $0.41 a share.
The numbers exclude any contribution from Atlanta based marketing consultancy Zyman Group, acquired by MDC for $63.8m in a deal finalized April 1 [WAMN: 07-Apr-05].
According to MDC chairman/ceo Miles Nadal, management's attention is now focused on "minding the store," although he did not rule out further acquisitions.
At least one analyst suggested that such focus is long overdue: "Revenue growth is great, but investors want to see the bottom line grow. It's just not," complained Jeff Tkachuk of BMO Nesbitt Burns Research, Toronto.
Data sourced from AdAge (USA); additional content by WARC staff
