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Paris, 28 January 2010 - JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company in Europe and Asia-Pacific and the number two worldwide, announced today 2009 revenues of €1,918.8 million, a decrease of 11.5% compared with 2008. Excluding acquisitions and the impact of foreign exchange, organic revenue decline was 10.9% reflecting a sharp contraction of advertising spending earlier this year as well as the high comparable organic revenue growth of 6.3% achieved by JCDecaux in 2008.

Street Furniture and Transport proved to be more resilient than Billboard and experienced organic revenue declines in the range of -8 to -10% in 2009. Billboard as the most cyclical division of the Group and only exposed to Europe reported a mid-teens organic revenue decrease.

Europe, excluding France and the United Kingdom, performed mostly in line with the Group with the exception of Southern Europe where organic revenue declined by more than 20% mainly driven by the sharp economic contraction in Spain. France outperformed the Group with a high single-digit revenue decline despite a challenging advertising environment and a good performance achieved in 2008 (4.8% organic growth). The UK declined the most in 2009, although business conditions clearly improved in the fourth quarter of 2009. Asia-Pacific and North America performed broadly in line with the Group in 2009, with Asia-Pacific reporting a significant sequential improvement in the fourth quarter of 2009 with low single-digit organic revenue growth. The Rest of the World experienced another year of strong revenue growth reflecting the Group’s successful development in new markets.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, revenues declined by 7.2% to €561.6 million compared to the same period last year (-4.9% on an organic basis). Reported revenues declined more than organic revenues during the fourth quarter of 2009 due to negative foreign exchange variations for all major currencies versus the euro. Organic revenue decline eased in the fourth quarter in all divisions and most geographies reflecting increased advertising spending in most markets and the easier comparables. Flat year on year organic revenues were recorded in December 2009.

By activity:

 

Full YearRevenues
  • 2009
  • (€m)
  • 2008
  • (€m)

Reported growth (%)

Organic growth(1) (%)

Street Furniture

934.3

1,063.5

-12.1

-10.1

Transport

589.6

629.0

-6.3

-8.3

Billboard

394.9

476.1

-17.1

-16.1

Total Group

1,918.8

2,168.6

-11.5

-10.9

Q4 Revenues
  • 2009
  • (€m)
  • 2008
  • (€m)

Reported growth (%)

Organic growth(1)(%)

Street Furniture

286.9

304.9

-5.9

-3.9

Transport

161.0

176.4

-8.7

-3.5

Billboard

113.7

124.1

-8.4

-9.2

Total Group

561.6

605.4

-7.2

-4.9

By geographic area:

 

Full Year Revenues
  • 2009
  • (€m)
  • 2008
  • (€m)

Reported growth (%)

Organic growth(1) (%)

Europe (2)

650.9

781.4

-16.7

-15.7

France (3)

563.7

617.6

-8.7

-8.7

Asia-Pacific

300.9

322.4

-6.7

-11.4

United Kingdom

183.8

246.8

-25.5

-16.7

North America

146.2

156.4

-6.5

-11.4

Rest of the world

73.3

44.0

66.6

81.3

Total Group

1,918.8

2,168.6

-11.5

-10.9

(1) Excluding acquisitions/divestitures and the impact of foreign exchange

(2) Excluding France and the United Kingdom

(3) Core advertising revenues in France decreased by 9.7% organically in 2009

Street Furniture revenues for the full year declined by 12.1% to €934.3 million. Excluding acquisitions and the impact of foreign exchange, organic revenues declined by 10.1%. Core advertising revenues, excluding revenues related to the sale, rental and maintenance of Street Furniture contracts, decreased by 11.4% organically.

In the fourth quarter, revenues decreased by 5.9% to €286.9 million (-3.9% on an organic basis) compared to the same period last year. Core advertising revenues, excluding revenues related to the sale, rental and maintenance of street furniture contracts declined by 4.5% organically. The Street Furniture division mainly benefitted from the UK and Europe excluding France, where mid single-digit organic revenue declines were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2009 - a marked improvement over the double-digit organic revenue declines recorded in the first nine months of the year. However European countries reported contrasting situations with almost flat like for like sales in Germany and Portugal while the advertising environment in Spain and the Baltics remained very difficult. France reported a mid single-digit revenue decline in the fourth quarter in line with the performance achieved in the third quarter of 2009. The Rest of the World continued to contribute very positively to the Street Furniture revenues with a high double-digit organic revenue growth over the period.

Transport revenues for the full year decreased by 6.3% to €589.6 million compared to €629.0 million in 2008. Excluding acquisitions and the impact of foreign exchange, organic revenues declined by 8.3%.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, revenues decreased by 8.7% to €161.0 million (-3.5% on an organic basis). Reported revenues declined more than organic revenues as a consequence of the decline of the US dollar, Chinese Yuan, Hong Kong dollar and British pound versus the euro in the fourth quarter.

France and the United Kingdom continued to suffer from challenging business conditions in airport activities, recording double-digit organic revenue declines in line with the third quarter of 2009. North America and Europe excluding France and the UK recorded mid single-digit organic revenue declines compared with the fourth quarter of 2008 with slightly improving revenue performances over the third quarter of 2009. After four quarters of organic year on year revenue decline, Asia-Pacific returned to growth over the quarter on the back of a mid single-digit organic revenue growth in Hong Kong and mainland China, reflecting easier comparables and slightly improving business conditions.

Billboard revenues for the full year decreased by 17.1% to €394.9 million. Excluding acquisitions and the impact of foreign exchange, organic revenues declined by 16.1%.

In the fourth quarter, revenues decreased by 8.4% to €113.7 million compared to €124.1million in the fourth quarter of 2008 (-9.2% on an organic basis), a clear improvement over the 17.0% year on year organic revenue decline recorded in the third quarter of 2009. This improvement has mainly been driven by a recovery in the UK billboard market where a mid single-digit organic revenue growth was achieved in the fourth quarter. France recorded a mid single-digit organic revenue decline in the fourth quarter of 2009, while most other European countries organic revenues continued to decline in double-digits compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.

Commenting on the Group’s 2009 revenue performance, Jean-François Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO, said:

“2009 was undoubtedly the most difficult year that JCDecaux has experienced since the creation of the company in 1964. Reduced advertising budgets and strong pricing pressure led to a global advertising revenue decline - including online advertising - expected to be around 10% in 2009. After a clear outperformance in 2008 JCDecaux performed relatively in line with the market in 2009 with an organic revenue decline of 10.9%, ahead of our most recent guidance thanks to late money spent in the fourth quarter and increased exposure to emerging markets.

The more positive advertiser sentiment reported in some markets since September seems to be holding into the first quarter of this year and given the easier comparables we are currently confident that JCDecaux can achieve positive organic revenue growth in Q1 2010.

However given the continuing low visibility it is unclear whether this is the beginning of a sustained advertising recovery and we continue to manage the company accordingly.”

Next information:

2009 Annual Results: 10 March 2010 (before market)

Contacts

Communication Department :Albert Asséraf+33 1 30 79 37 35communication-jcdecaux@jcdecaux.com
Investor Relations :Rémi Grisard+33 1 30 79 79 93remi.grisard@jcdecaux.com

Published in Investors