Aegis Group

Infobox Company
company_name = Aegis Group plc
company_
company_type = Public (lse|AGS)
foundation = 1968
location = London, UK
key_people = Lord Sharman, Chairman
Robert Lerwill, CEO
industry = Media
products =
revenue = £1,106.4 million (2007)
operating_income = £142.1 million (2007)
net_income = £94.4 million (2007)
num_employees = circa 14,000
parent =
subsid = Synovate
homepage = [http://www.aegisplc.com www.aegisplc.com]
slogan =
footnotes =

Aegis Group plc (lse|AGS) is a media and market research group listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company employs almost 14,000 staff in over 80 countries.

History

The business can be traced back to the founding in France in 1968 of the media agency "Centre achete radio et television (Caret)".

In 1979 "WCRS Group" was formed as an advertising agency and in 1984 "WCRS Group" acquired "Caret". "WCRS Group" became one of the fastest growing marketing services groups of the 1980’s. [Simon Marquis, [http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2015938,00.html Full service will never be resumed] , Guardian, February 19th 2007]

"WCRS Group" was led by Peter Scott—the ‘S’ of "WCRS" [Caroline Marshall, [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2004/04/13/ccadh13.xml Ad hoc: Agency warhorses come charging back for buyout] , Daily Telegraph, April 12 2004] — who went on to found "Aegis" in 1989 as a separate company based on the original "WCRS" media buying division which itself was centred around the French media business "Caret".

The old "WCRS" agency has re-emerged as part of the "Engine Group" [Dan Sabbagh, [http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article591415.ece Agency finds new power in Engine] , Times, November 18, 2005] .

Operations

Aegis has the following main businesses: [ [http://www.aegisplc.com/ags/businesses/overview/ Aegis business overview] ]
* Synovate : this division handles the market research activities. The business consulting activities are handled by Synovate business consulting
* Carat: the French media communications specialist
* Isobar: a global digital network
* Posterscope: a out-of-home media specialist
* Vizeum: a so-called challenger media brand

Ownership

French corporate raider Vincent Bolloré, through his holding company the Bolloré Group, is the single largest shareholder, controlling 29.12% of the issued share capital as at July 19, 2006. He has sought board representation on four separate occasions, but has been repelled. In his attempt in May 2007, he was overwhelmingly voted down by 90% of non-Bolloré shareholders, who voted 76% of eligible shares [Kam Patel, [http://www.hemscott.com/news/comment-archive/item.do?id=27507 Aegis shareholders shun Bollore again] , Hemscott, May 25, 2007] .

References

External links

* [http://www.aegisplc.com Official Website]