Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital continues growth as profit jumps
Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital saw its profit jump by a fifth last year as the digital ad group continues its aggressive growth strategy.
S4 Capital posted a 19.4 per cent rise in gross profit to £295m in 2020, while revenue rose 15 per cent to £343m.
The marketing group, which has major contracts with Google and BMW, reported a strong start to the year, with profit ahead of expectations.
The firm said it expected like-for-like gross profit growth of 25 per cent this year.
‘Outstandingly successful’
S4 Capital boss Martin Sorrell hailed an “outstandingly successful” financial year for the firm and expressed his confidence in the future.
“The pandemic has accelerated adoption of digital transformation amongst consumers, across all media and within enterprises and, in turn, stimulated the demand from clients for digital marketing expertise.
“We believe 2021 and 2022 will be very strong years economically, as the world rebounds from the pandemic and spends and invests the huge pandemic-driven fiscal and monetary stimulus.”
S4, which has a market capitalisation of around £2.6bn, has grown rapidly since its inception in 2018, driven largely by an acquisition spree.
The company snapped up five marketing agencies or consultancies last year and made a further four acquisitions since year-end.
Sorrell has set out a target of landing 20 clients with revenue of more than $20m per year, which he dubs “whoppers”.
The media boss today said S4 had five “whoppers secure or in sight”, including Google, BMW and Mondelez.
Sorrell said his company had also secured major new projects from clients including Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Procter & Gamble.
Jam3 to merge with Media Monks
S4 Capital also announced an agreement to merge Toronto-based design agency Jam3 with its Media Monks division.
The merger will allow the two firms to scale up work on behalf of shared clients including Google, Facebook and Netflix.
It will also expand S4’s presence in Los Angeles, the Netherlands, Canada and Latin America.
Mark McQuillan, managing director at Jam3 said, “Our ambition at Jam3 was to find a partner who can inspire us to multiply our efforts, together. We couldn’t be more excited to team up with The Monks and S4 Capital for our next chapter.”