By Jess Jones
Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital reported a mix bag of updates for the first half of 2023, with a strong technology division failing to make up for a slow ads market elsewhere in the business.
The firm reported an operating loss of £6.4m in the first half, down from £69m the year before.
The digital marketing giant reported a revenue rise to £445.4m, an 18.7 per cent growth from the first half of 2022.
Data & digital media only crept up 2.4 per cent like-for-like, well below inflation, in a blow to Sorrell’s stated ambition of creating a digital powerhouse.
The firm continues to cut employees, with the content division next on the chopping block.
Like for like revenues are now expected to be down on the year, the firm told markets this morning.
Sir Martin Sorrell, chairman of S4, said: “We had a very mixed first half of the year reflecting challenging global macroeconomic conditions and consequent fears of recession, which resulted in client caution to commit and extended sales cycles, particularly for larger projects.”
He added the company expects increased client activity and ramped up artificial intelligence initiatives to spark in the second half of the year.
S4 are already seeing an increase in viewing numbers asit encourages employees to use AI to speed up ad copywriting and amass data for ad targeting.
Sorrell has previously said AI is “more effective than a 25-year-old media buyer”.
