The group, which owns the Grey Worldwide advertising network and the media agency MediaCom, said that for the third quarter of the year, ending September 30, it saw revenue down by 1.9% to $290.4m.
Because of accounting changes, Grey's net income was up for the quarter from $1.5m last year to $2.8m, a rise of 87%. Grey partly attributed this to steps taken last year to reduce costs, especially in Europe.
The one bright spot was revenues in Grey's North American operations, which increased for the third quarter.
In a statement, the company said: "Revenues for the quarter and the nine months ended September 30 2002 were down from the levels in 2001, principally because of a slowdown in international markets, most prominently in Northern Europe, where adverse market conditions coupled with local client losses and weakness in key advertising categories, such as telephony, negatively affected results."
Last month, Grey appointed Richard Bagnall-Smith, former Wunderman Cato Johnson managing director, as new business director to drive new business to the pan-European network.
The company is headed by Ed Meyer, president and CEO of Grey since 1970. Since taking over, he has turned the group into an international operation, with billings in 2001 of over $12bn.
Grey Worldwide has picked up several major advertising accounts this year, including the Mars Bar account from long-time incumbent D'Arcy and the US airline Frontier Airlines.
Shares in Grey, listed on Nasdaq, closed up by 2.1% or $12 at $580 yesterday, prior to the company releasing its results.
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