JCDECAUX strengthens its leadership position in Europe through a partnership agreement with Gewista
- Paris
The JCDecauxGroup announced today that it has signed a partnership agreement with the Gewista Group, the leading company in outdoor advertising in Austria, which also has a strong presence in central Europe through its subsidiary Europlakat. With a turnover of around 100 million euros (656 million francs), Gewista is Austria's Nº 1 in large-format posters with 42,000 advertising faces, the leading company for street furniture, with 3,600 faces, and in transport advertising, with faces on 400 buses, 700 metro cars and trams and 35 television screens in the Vienna Metro. Founded in 1921, Gewista has a 40% share of the outdoor advertising market in Austria, and also manages over 20,000 advertising surfaces in 9 Central European countries: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. JCDecaux and B&C Holding have decided to form a joint venture company called JCDecaux Central Eastern Europe Holding, which already owns 16% of Gewista, and to which the 51% of Gewista owned by B&C Holding will be transferred, together with the 30% share in Affichage Holding, the leading outdoor advertising company in Switzerland, owned by JCDecaux. On completion of the deal, JCDecaux will be the new company's majority shareholder with a 58.5% share. Commenting on this major strategic agreement, Jean-François Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Joint Managing Director of the JCDecaux Group, said: "The outdoor advertising market in Austria and Europe represents approximately 8% of the advertising market in that region and is growing steadily. Gewista and Europlakat, its subsidiary, form the biggest outdoor advertising group in the region. Through this new partnership, JCDecaux will have a strong platform to further develop its business in Central Europe, to win tenders for street furniture in modernising Central European cities and to play a major role in the ongoing market consolidation in the region."