Advertising titan, WPP plc (WPPGY) recently agreed to acquire a majority interest in Karachi-based insight and consultancy company, Oasis Insights (Private) Limited. The acquisition will be given effect through the company’s Kantar network. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Oasis was founded in 1996 and employs over 105 people. The company generated roughly PKR 254 million in gross revenues for the year ended 30 June 2011. Gross assets for the same period were PKR 109 million. The company has a client base consisting of Engro Foods, Mobilink, PTC, Ufone and Unilever.
The acquisition complies with WPP plc’s efforts to expand its operations in fast growing emerging markets, thus enabling access to vast untapped markets in those regions. WPP plc’s attempts at making inroads in the Pakistani market, considered to be one of the few emerging economies, will also be eased out by Oasis.
Of late, in October 2011, Kantar raised its stake in Lanka Market Research Bureau (Private) Limited (LMRB) from 49% to 100% by purchasing the latter’s remaining shares. LMRB is Sri Lanka’s leading market research agency and has a vast client base including Unilever Sri Lanka Ltd, Fonterra Brands Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, SmithKline Beecham (Pvt) Ltd., (GSK) and Dialog Axiata PLC.
The current Zacks Consensus EPS Estimate for WPP plc is $5.23 and $5.70 for the fiscal years 2011 and 2012, respectively. The estimate represents a year-over-year growth of 39.80% for 2011 and 8.93% for 2012.
Based in Dublin, Ireland, WPP Group plc. provides advertising and communications services worldwide. The company faces stiff competition from its peers like Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. (IPG), Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC), and Publicis Groupe SA (PUBGY.PK).
We currently maintain a Neutral recommendation on the stock.
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