Sorrell's S4 Capital sees revenue leap after acquisitions

S4 landed revenue of £54.8m across 2018, a jump of 58% compared to the year before, and reported pro-forma profit before tax of £7.6m, down from £8.6m the year before.

The company acquired Media Monks for more than £260m in July and programmatic company MightyHive for £115m on Christmas Eve.

Since the acquisition date, the acquired companies contributed revenue of £54.8m, £53.9m from MediaMonks and £0.9m from MightyHive, while if the acquisition had occurred on 1 January 2018, S4Capital Group's revenue would have been £135.9 million due to total contributions of £101.5m from MediaMonks and £34.4m from MightyHive.

The new acquisitions have also resulted in contract wins from the likes of Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Mondelez, Bayer and Electronic Arts.

"It is clear that the company's purely digital model based on first party data fuelling digital content and programmatic is resonating with clients. Our tag line "faster, better, cheaper" and unitary, one P&L structure also appeal strongly. The imperatives will be to broaden and deepen relationships with existing and new clients; to broaden and deepen geographical coverage; and to attract additional data, content and media talent and resources through direct recruitment, acquisition and/or merger," said for WPP chief executive Sorrell.

A statement from the London-listed outfit said that the current business pipeline was running at "approximately twice the level of last year" and added that the company has approximately 1,200 people in 16 countries.

S4 Capital's shares were up 0.81% at 124.50p as of 1126 GMT.