PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French advertising company Publicis Groupe (PGPEF.PK, PUBGY.PK) reported Wednesday that its fiscal 2020 net income attributable to the Groupe declined 31.5 percent to 576 million euros from last year's 841 million euros.
Earnings per share were 2.40 euros, down 33.1 percent from 3.59 euros a year ago. Headline earnings per share were 4.27 euros, compared to 5.02 euros last year.
EBITDA declined 3.9 percent from last year to 2.16 billion euros.
Net revenue edged down 0.9 percent to 9.71 billion euros from 9.80 billion euros a year earlier. Organic revenues declined 6.3 percent.
In the fourth quarter, net revenue was 2.60 billion euros, down 9.6 percent from last year. U.S. returned to positive organic growth in the quarter at 0.5%.
Further, the company proposed a dividend at 2.01 euros per share, slightly below pre-pandemic level, corresponding to a payout of 46.8%.
Looking ahead, the company anticipates that Q1 will be negative as it faces an unfavorable comparable, and growth should return in Q2 supported by a favorable base.
The company noted that the current context prevents it from giving a full year organic guidance for 2021.
Operating margin rate is expected to improve by up to 50 basis points in 2021, consolidating further the achievement of 2020.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX