Russ Curry, Ministry of New Media
In March JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide, announced its results for the year ended December 31st, 2020. JCDecaux Supervisory Board, which met on March 10th, 2021, approved the audited financial statements for fiscal year 2020.
Commenting on the 2020 results, Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: “In 2020, JCDecaux, the world’s largest Out-of-Home media company, faced its most difficult year since it was founded in 1964, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic which forced national, regional and local governments to impose unprecedented mobility restrictions in modern history such as lockdowns, curfews, closures of stores, restaurants, cinemas, …
Our Group revenue declined by -40.6% reaching €2,3118 million with a decrease in adjusted organic revenue of -38.1%, with a slightly better H2. Despite this strong decline, our 2020 operating margin remained positive at €141.6 million thanks to strong and fast adjustments achieved by our fully committed teams around the world in good faith with our partners. Our strong focus on cash preservation and cost savings paved the way for offsetting 59% of this very significant revenue decline. Our free cash flow remained solid at €161.9 million thanks to a tight control over working capital requirement and selective capex allocation for future growth, which led to a decrease in net debt at €1,086.3 million by the end of 2020.
Given the 2020 results, the first loss ever – including exceptional charges due to Covid-19 situation, we will propose at the Annual General Meeting which will take place on May 20th, 2021, not to pay any dividend in 2021.
Our digital transformation continues with a growing penetration in Street Furniture while the total share of digital revenue now represents 24% of Group revenue. While the current programmatic penetration is small, we are very well positioned to take advantage of the impressive growth forecast with our programmatic trading platform, VIOOH, which is the most connected platform with 20 DSPs transacting in 14 countries. Most advertising categories were significantly affected during the crisis, but we saw an increasing demand from Government and Public Services to use our assets and to engage with citizens over the year. Our client mix with our Top 10 clients remains diversified and represents less than 13% of Group revenue.
We remained committed to bolt-on M&A acquisitions such as Clear Media in China through a consortium of investors in March 2020 and more recently Abri Services Media in France in December 2020. These 2 acquisitions in our largest 2 markets, will enable JCDecaux to benefit from the rebound of Street Furniture, the most profitable business segment, which will be the first business to fully recover.
Following the 4.6/5 score in the FTSE4Good index by FTSE Russell and a confirmed “A Leadership” ranking in the CDP Climate Change rating, JCDecaux has obtained the maximum AAA score in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rankings of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) ratings agency for the fourth consecutive year. JCDecaux is the only company on the Media & Entertainment panel to have obtained MSCI’s maximum rating in 2020. The acknowledgement of our sustainability strategy by extra-financial rating agencies demonstrates the excellence of our environmental, social and governance practices which have been in our DNA since the company was created, as well as our ongoing commitment to ensuring transparency towards our stakeholders.
As far as Q1 2021 is concerned, we expect an adjusted organic revenue decline at around -40%, due to ongoing and stronger mobility restrictions introduced in some large countries, such as UK and Germany, while a double digit rebound in domestic Chinese advertising revenue (excluding Hong Kong) is very encouraging. While we do not expect to recover our 2019 revenue level in 2021, we believe that the rebound will be strong when audiences return to pre-Covid levels.
In a media landscape increasingly fragmented and more and more digital, out-of-home and digital out‑of‑home advertising reinforce its attractiveness. As the most digitised global OOH company with our new data-led audience targeting and programmatic platform, our well diversified portfolio, our ability to win new contracts, the strength of our balance sheet and the high quality of our teams across the world, we believe we are well positioned to benefit from the rebound.”
Full-Year 2020 results
- Adjusted revenue down -40.6% to €2,311.8 million
- Adjusted organic revenue down -38.1%
- Adjusted operating margin of €141.6 million
- Adjusted EBIT, before impairment charge, of -€352.9 million
- Net income Group share of -€604.6 million, including an impairment charge of €211.3 million
- Adjusted free cash flow of €161.9 million
- Best-in-class in ESG ratings
- Proposal not to pay any dividend in 2021
- Adjusted organic revenue decline in Q1 2021 at around -40% but double digit rebound in domestic Chinese advertising revenue
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