JCDecaux reports strong growth as revenue nears €1bn

Worldwide transport revenues rose 17.8% to €237.7m following the acquisitions last year of Chinese companies Media Nation and Media Partners International.

However in the second quarter, UK transport revenues were down in contrast to double-digit growth in France, Spain, Denmark and Germany. Revenues at Frankfurt airport in Germany were boosted considerably by World Cup transport ad revenue.

Street furniture revenues increased for the first half of 2006 by 6.8% to €485.7m, with core ad revenue for sale, rental and maintenance of street furniture up 5% organically.

Billboards also experienced a healthy rise across Europe, climbing 3.7% to €118.5m, with sound growth reported in the UK and Ireland and in Eastern Europe, although market growth in Belgium, Italy and France was described as "more challenging."

Jean-Charles Decaux, chairman and co-CEO, said: "As anticipated, our second-quarter revenues showed good organic growth, reflecting a solid performance from the street furniture division, a useful improvement in billboard revenues, and a continued double-digit increase from our transport division.

"The strong revenue increase from our transport advertising, the overall improvement in the French advertising market compared with 2005, as well as the good progress of our North American and Asia-Pacific operations, should continue fuelling our organic revenue growth."

Earlier in the month, JCDecaux reaffirmed its commitment to further street furniture ad growth by planning to roll out its trialled subsidised self-hire bike scheme across nearly 500 major cities worldwide, including Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, Toronto and New Delhi.

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