S4 Capital PLC (LSE:SFOR) reported strong growth in the third quarter with billings of £484.2mln, up 51%, or 21% like-for-like, while revenue was up over 68% to £300.1mln and gross profit up 73% to £249.9mln, or 29% on a like-for-like basis.
S4 said it continued to trade in line with its top line objective for 2022 of 25% like-for-like gross profit/net revenue growth and its profitability objective of operational EBITDA of approximately £120mln.
“We have seen little negative impact so far in the remainder of 2022 from the current macro political and economic gloom,” the company said.
The digital advertising agency, run by Sir Martin Sorrell, said the growth in the third quarter reflected the improved control of hiring across the company combined with an acceleration of revenues.
The impact of this change in emphasis was most marked in the content practice, which started to improve operational EBITDA significantly, S4 said.
The Data & Digital media practice was not as strong in gross profit/net revenue growth but continued to benefit from the uncertainty and the increase in the marketing index as a result of both Apple's decision around IDFA and Google's around deprecation of third party cookies.
Technology services continued to perform very strongly at all levels.
Sorrell, executive chairman, said: "Despite the current macro political and economic gloom and slowing tech growth, our top-line momentum has been more than maintained in the third quarter and remains relatively strong into the fourth quarter.“
“Operational EBITDA continues to progress in line with the revised target issued in July.”