Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital – aka MediaMonks – has morphed from a peanut to a coconut already.
Peanut, you may recall, was how himself described his new venture in relation to his old one WPP but now he says it’s a coconut as he announces some pretty spectacular quarterly figures, to the end of September.
S4C revenue was up 45 per cent to £26.2m and gross profit up nearly 32 per cent to £18.3m. Year to date revenue is up 48 per cent to £73.8m and gross profit up 40 per cent to £52.8m.
S4C says notable assignments were completed in the third quarter for Compass, Coty, Instagram, Mondelez, Posadas and PVH/Tommy Hilfiger amongst others and “significant engagement” was generated by work for Google (below), Samsung, Grupo Modelo and Amazon Prime Video.
All global areas performed well it seems, especially the US (in stark contrast to the current fortunes of WPP) and S4C is opening a new office in San Francisco to add to New York and LA.
Executive chairman Sorrell says: “Trading is very much in line with our objectives for this first quarter since the merger with MediaMonks. We are delighted that MediaMonks was able to deliver continued significant growth, even during the integration of the company into S4 Capital plc and the re-listing and name change of the Company on the London Stock Exchange, at the end of the third quarter.
“We already see both a widening and deepening of the Company’s client base, resulting in a strong performance for all three pillars at MediaMonks. A focus on digital content, digital media planning and buying and first party data, along with an emphasis on “faster, better, cheaper” executions, clearly resonates with clients of all shapes and sizes. We are already planning significant expansion of the Group’s services in digital media planning and buying and content and geographically, particularly in the United States and Asia Pacific. In all, a good start for a coconut!”
Where there’s a Sorrell there’s a sound bite but he can be allowed a pat on the back, although it’s still early days for S4C.
Digital transformation is where the money is these days in what we used to call adland and S4C/MediaMonks appears to be profiting accordingly.