WPPGY Buys Stake in Istropolitana

Recently, advertising titan WPP Group Plc. ( WPPGY - Analyst Report ) , through its wholly-owned subsidiary Ogilvy & Mather, concluded acquiring a minority stake in Communication Group for an undisclosed amount.

Communications Group is the holding company of Istropolitana group of companies, a diversified advertising agency. Istropolitana was founded in 1992 and employs over 95 people. As of December 2011, the agency generated over €4.509 million in revenue and had €3.672 million in gross assets.

WPPGY’s acquisitions and investments are all aimed at expanding the company’s operations in fast growing emerging markets and enabling access to vast untapped markets in those regions. In the fiscal year 2011, WPPGY made roughly 24 acquisitions in new markets, 32 in new media and 8 in consumer insight.

The company’s stake acquisition in Communications Group will enable WPPGY to gain access to the former’s solid client base, which includes Heineken, Slovak Telecom and VUB Banka, among others.

Of late, WPPGY’s wholly-owned subsidiary JWT acquired a majority stake in one of the leading digital agencies of India, Hungama Digital Services. Prior to this, KBM Group acquired Predictys while Ogilvy & Mather acquired a stake in Myanmar-based advertising agency Today Advertising.

The current Zacks Consensus EPS Estimates for WPP plc are $5.67 and $6.32 for fiscal years 2012 and 2013, respectively. The estimates represent year-over-year growth of 5.39% for 2012 and 11.54% for 2013.

This Dublin, Ireland-based advertising and communications services provider competes with other industry players including Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. ( IPG - Analyst Report ) , Omnicom Group Inc. ( OMC - Analyst Report ) and Publicis Groupe SA.

We currently maintain a Neutral recommendation on WPPGY. The stock also bears a Zacks #3 Rank, implying a short-term (1-3 months) Hold rating.