Investment bank JP Morgan lowered its first-half revenue estimate for Interpublic, the world's largest advertising group which is headed up by John Dooner, to $6.65bn (拢4.65bn), 1.1% down on last year.
It reduced its earnings-per-share estimate for 2002 to $1.49 from $1.55 -- a figure that is still 11% higher than last year's figure.
Morgan also downgraded Interpublic's shares to "long-term buy" from "buy", anticipating that the new revenue estimates would come as a disappointment to investors expecting to see a recovery in the media sector. When the US markets closed yesterday, Interpublic shares were trading down by 2.62%, or 87 cents, at $32.33.
The bank said in a research note that it expects advertising agencies to suffer "from a shift to fee-based revenues".
The note also said, however, that Interpublic, owner of McCann-Erickson and Weber Shandwick, the world's biggest PR company, could benefit from client conflicts that arise from French group Publicis' takeover of B|Com3.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .