In its Q4 earnings call, the Interpublic Group, parent to companies like FCB (Foote, Cone & Belding), FutureBrand, McCann, MullenLowe Group, and Weber Shandwick, recorded "strong" performance in 2020 and expects more revenue growth in 2021. IPG CEO Philippe Krakowsky outlined the plans for the group in the year. In the quarter, the group posted net revenue at 2.28bn, down 6.1% year-on-year from $2.43bn. An organic net revenue decrease of 5.4% was recorded.
While it posted a 1.8% decrease in the US, internationally it was 10.5%. The group effected a savings of $413.8 million in 2020. It projects the cuts to result in an annual savings of $160m. In the pandemic year, salaries and related expenses were $ 5.4 bn, down 4.0% compared to 2019. Net revenue in 2020 was $8.06bn, compared to $8.63 billion in 2019 for IPG.
Organic net revenue decrease was 4.8%. The IPG board expects a return to positive organic growth this year. IPG's Initiative winning the $2bn T-Mobile media business earlier this year will help that. IPG's operating income for the full year in 2020, which includes restructuring charges of $413.8m, compared to $1.09 billion in 2019. 26% of the company's revenue came from health care, 16% from tech and teleocms, 13% from financial services, 10% each from food and retail, 8 % from consumer goods and auto and 9% to others.
Commenting on the growth Krakowsky said that it was a “solid quarter... under challenging conditions. [Our] performance once again should place us at the top of our sector. We continued to be disciplined with respect to expenses, proactive and strategic in our approach to structural cost actions, while simultaneously investing in our business during the year to accelerate areas of strongest opportunity and growth.”
