PARIS (Reuters) – JCDecaux fell sharply on Friday on the Paris Stock Exchange, a quarterly sales forecast deemed disappointing outweighing a solid performance over the first three months of the year.
The title lost 11.14% to 17.07 euros around 11:15 a.m., moving to its lowest since February 2021. This is the largest drop in the SBF 120 index, down 1.32%.
The outdoor advertising specialist published Thursday organic growth in adjusted revenue of 45.7% to 683 million euros in the first quarter.
It anticipates organic growth above 15% for the second quarter, taking into account the effect of health restrictions implemented locally in China, JCDecaux said in a press release.
“We believe that more than half of the difference between JCDecaux’s forecast and the consensus at 26.7% is explained by the widening and extension of the confinement in China, but there is also, according to our estimates, a small difference due to moderating demand outside China,” Berenberg analysts said in a note.
“This is hardly surprising given the weakening consumer environment in Europe, which we believe is reflected in slower TV advertising growth in the second quarter for example,” they added. .
Berenberg is thus revising its organic growth target for the 2022 financial year from 20.6% to 16.1%, which translates into a 9.2% drop in operating margin this year.
Analysts estimate that the shortfall will be partly made up for in 2024, with JCDecaux offering, according to them, better upside potential in the medium term than most of its competitors.
(Written by Laetitia Volga, edited by Sophie Louet)