JCDecaux Belgium announces an agreement to purchase a majority stake in the Belgian billboard specialist Publiroute (Dewez)

JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide, announces that its subsidiary, JCDecaux Belgium, has completed the first stage of a merger with Publiroute, a long-established Belgian billboards player operating under the Dewez trademark. When the operation is complete, JCDecaux Belgium will be the majority shareholder.

Created as a family-run company in 1920, Publiroute, through its trademark Dewez, currently operates 15,000 displays across Belgium.

Through this majority stake, JCDecaux will become the number one in billboard advertising in Belgium, strengthening its existing positions. The assets of Dewez, specialised in long-term local advertising billboards, complement JCDecaux's current assets in Belgium, and will significantly increase its billboard offering by extending outside the main city centres.

Chris Stone, Chief Executive Officer of Dewez, said: “I’m very excited to collaborate with JCDecaux, specifically relating to temporarily and permanent billboard, and the future development of digital in Belgium fuelled by the knowledge of the JCDecaux Group.”

Jean-Sébastien Decaux, CEO Southern Europe, Belgium and Luxembourg, Africa and Israel of JCDecaux, said: “We are very proud to be teaming up with Publiroute, a long-established billboards leader in Belgium formed nearly one hundred years ago, and a family-run company with which JCDecaux share values. I am delighted to work with Chris Stone, whose professionalism and unique experience are recognized in the sector, and firmly believe that this merger between our two companies will produce an abundance of opportunities and will create value, in particular for our advertiser and media agency clients. ”