In the UK, JCDecaux's organic growth, which excludes acquisitions, divestitures and the impact of foreign exchange, was down 16.7% during 2009, compared with a fall of 4.7% in 2008.
However, the ad market has improved this year and Jean-François Decaux, chairman of the executive board and co-CEO, said JCDecaux's UK revenues in Q1 2010 were "in line with the recent announcement" from ITV.
ITV said in its results last week that it saw a rise in ad revenues of 7% year on year in the first quarter of 2010, and is expecting a revenue increase of between 15% and 20% during April.
Decaux said: "The market continues to be characterised by reduced visibility and it remains unclear whether this is the beginning of a sustained advertising recovery."
Billboards were hit hardest: global operating profit for billboards, which JCDecaux refers to as "operating margin", decreased 46.1% year on year to €38m.
Jeremy Male, chief executive of JCDecaux in UK, Northern Europe and Australia, said as JCDecaux tended to sell out each billboard cycle, 60% to 70% of the decrease in billboard revenue in the UK was due to reduced prices.
The operating margin for the global transport division was down 32.6% year on year to €55.6m, and the operating margin for the street furniture division was down 24.8% to €298.4%.
JCDecaux confirmed its consolidated revenue was €1.9bn in 2009, down 11.5% year on year, and in line with the company figures released at the end of January.
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