Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital PLC (LSE:SFOR) had another 11.5% slashed from its share price this Thursday following an interim trading update, bringing year-on-year market losses to nearly 50%.
The advertising firm saw net revenue fall by more than 15% year on year in the first half, with adjusted earnings falling 17.5% to £30 million.
Losses for the period improved from £21.8 million to £13.7 million due to a combination of opex savings and lower share-based compensation.
Net debt on the balance sheet rose dramatically- from below £110 million in the first half of 2023 to more than £182 million in the latest period.
Sorrell said trading reflected “the continuing impact of both challenging global macroeconomic conditions and high interest rates”.
“This particularly impacted marketing spend by some technology clients and our Technology Services practice was affected by a reduction in one of our larger relationships,” he added.
S4 has kept full-year guidance unchanged as it expected financial performance to be “significantly” weighted to the second half.