Earnings

MDC Partners reported Q1 revenue of about $236 million, an increase of 9.7 percent versus 2011. The company also reported organic growth of 5.4 percent. However, the company also reported a number of losses for the quarter.

Operating loss was at about $11.7 million versus a profit of $2.56 million year-over-year. Net loss was about $24.6 million compared with $7 million in 2011.

Adweek also notes the Q1 drop in EBITDA of 51 percent, from $15.4 million last year to $7.5 million this year. The company has purchased or taken a stake in a number of firms over the past couple of years, including Kwittken & Company, Allison+Partners, London’s Epoch PR, and ad agency Anomaly.

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Vocus‘ Q1 earnings announcement shows a 29 percent year-over-year increase in GAAP revenue to $34.9 million. Non-GAAP revenue was up 31 percent to $35.5 million. GAAP operations losses totaled $10.4 million versus $3.1 million in 2011. Non-GAAP operations income was $854,000 versus $2.3 million in 2011.

In February 2012, Vocus acquired iContact for $169 million, which sent the company’s stock price lower, down from about $22 to $14. The stock price closed today at $13.25.

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WPP reported a like-for-like revenue increase of 1.9 percent in the public relations and public affairs area for Q1 2012. Revenue for the sector totaled £225 million, or about $365.6 million. In constant currencies, that percentage goes up to 6.8 percent. The company said Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe showed the strongest growth. B-M this week announced leadership changes at Proof Integrated Communications and in its consumer and brand marketing practice.

Overall, that means PR and public affairs make up 9.4 percent of total revenue for the company.

Revenue for WPP as a whole totaled about £2.93 billion (about $4.76 billion), up 7.6 percent in pound sterling and 5.5 percent in U.S. dollars. Like-for-like revenue was up four percent.

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Interpublic Group, home to Weber Shandwick, GolinHarris, and other PR and advertising agencies, reported first quarter revenue of $1.51 billion, an increase from $1.47 billion in 2011. Organic growth was 2.8 percent.

The company’s operating loss was $39.4 million, a decrease year-over-year from $45.3 million, showing improvement. Net loss was $45.9 million versus $48.1 million in 2011. The Wall Street Journal reports that  ”in February Standard & Poor’s raised its rating outlook on Interpublic to positive from stable, citing the company’s progress toward improving profitability and credit metrics.”

Harris Diamond, the CEO of IPG’s Constituency Management Group (CMG), housing the company’s PR firms, says its figures were strong with organic revenue at 8.6 percent and overall growth at 10 percent.

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Havas, home to firms including Abernathy McGregor Group, Cake, and Euro RSCG Worldwide, reported 3.5 percent organic growth for Q1 2012 with revenue totaling €387 million (about $511 million by today’s conversion rates). That’s a year-over-year increase from €361 million in revenue.

The company called its new business results “robust” with that figure totaling €605 million (about $799 million) for the quarter. That far exceeds the new business number from 2011 – €384 million.

Even with the positive numbers, the results fall short of the competition. Havas’ European figures were sluggish with organic growth actually going negative in the U.K. and the rest of Europe, with the exception of France, its home turf.

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Publicis Groupe announced its Q1 earnings today, reporting a 12.9 percent year-over-year increase in revenue to €1.45 billion (about $1.9 billion). Organic growth was 4.1 percent, down from Q1 2011 when it was 6.5 percent, but up from Q4 2011.

The Specialized Marketing Services (SAMS) group, which houses the company’s PR units like MSLGroup, represented 19 percent of total revenue, down from 21 percent last year.

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Omnicom earnings announcement for Q1 2012 showed an overall 6.5 percent revenue growth for the company’s PR business during the quarter, totaling $306.9 million. Organic growth was 4.4 percent for the quarter. PR accounts for 9.3 percent of Omnicom’s total revenue. Omnicom’s PR firms include Ketchum, Fleishman-Hillard, and Porter Novelli.

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ICYMI (because we did): Huntsworth announced its financial results for the year ending December 31, 2011, reporting a revenue increase of 1.5 percent to £176.3 million (about $279.7 million by today’s conversion standard). In 2010, the revenue figure was £173.6 million.

However, operating profits after central costs are taken into account decreased to £23.5 million (about $37.3 million) from £29.6 million in 2010. And profits before taxes but after highlighted items was down to £10.6 million from £21.8 million in 2010.

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Havas announced its 2011 earnings yesterday, with revenue totaling about €1.65 billion ($2.17 billion according to today’s conversion rate). That’s a 5.6 percent increase from the previous year total of €1.56 billion. Organic growth was at 5.9 percent for the year, and income from operations was €220 million ($290.6 million). That’s a jump from €204 million in operating income in 2010.

Revenue from digital and social media work was up 23 percent for the year. Among the 2011 digital and social media wins were Panasonic and The Economist for Havas Digital USA and Mexico Tourism for Havas Digital Global.

The earnings announcement also highlighted 16 percent revenue gains in the emerging markets of Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

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PR software company Vocus has acquired iContact, an email and social media marketing company, for $169 million, “$91 million in cash, $9 million in common stock, and approximately $79 million in redeemable convertible preferred stock,” according to an announcement made late yesterday.

According to that release, iContact is used by 70,000 organizations. The purchase brings an email offering into its existing marketing suite.

There will be no changes to either company’s products and services, and the iContact staff will stay put in Raleigh-Durham, NC. (Vocus is based in Maryland.) IContact was founded in 2003 and has since garnered media coverage and received $50 million in venture financing.

The news came on the same day as Vocus’ earnings announcement.

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