Aegis sticks to 2008 guidance, M&A pace to slow

By Dominique Vidalon

BARCELONA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - British marketing group Aegis (AEGS.L) said on Friday it was sticking with its 2008 profit guidance, though the economic crisis made it difficult to predict what its revenue growth would be in the fourth quarter.

Chief Executive Officer Robert Lerwill also told the Morgan Stanley annual Technology, Media and Telecoms conference on Friday that Aegis was likely to slow down its acquisition pace in 2009 and would focus on cost control.

"In August we said we would be at the upper end of analysts' consensus, and at this stage analysts' consensus is 147-153 million pounds pretax profits. We are not making a formal forecast, but we are not changing the guidance we are giving," Lerwill later told Reuters on the sideline of the conference.

Asked if he could make a prediction for fourth-quarter revenue growth, Lerwill said: "That is slightly more difficult. We have just to wait and see."

In October Aegis reported revenue growth of 7.3 percent for the nine months ended September 2008 but said the current uncertainty in financial markets made it difficult to forecast accurate levels of client spending for the fourth quarter.

Lerwill reiterated at the conference that the fourth quarter was the group's most significant trading quarter.

He remained tight-lipped on the outlook for 2009.

"We are in the process of doing the budgets now, but we are going to be very conservative as to what we estimate so that we can make sure our costs marry up to whatever revenue assumptions we make," he told Reuters.