quote.bloomberg.com
08/13 17:33
Interpublic to Restate Results, Pares 2002 Forecast (Update3)
By Aimee Picchi
New York, Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Interpublic Group of Cos. the world's second-biggest advertising company, said it will restate financial results dating back to 1997 because of $68.5 million in charges that weren't properly recorded. The company also said full-year profit will miss forecasts.
Interpublic had second-quarter net income of $117 million, or 31 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $113.1 million, or 31 cents, a year earlier. Sales fell 8.4 percent to $1.61 billion, it said in a statement. Interpublic cited a slow recovery in the ad market in lowering the 2002 forecast.
The company, which postponed releasing results last week, said a review of transactions between some units uncovered ``imbalances,'' mainly in its European operations. Shares of Interpublic, which had tumbled 20 percent since the delay, fell as much as 9.4 percent to $14.30 at 4:15 p.m. New York time in trading after the close of U.S. markets.
``The number overall is fairly small, so there's not the level where you could say the company had been intentionally misleading or trying to overstate revenue,'' said Edward Jones & Co. analyst Robin Diedrich, who has a ``buy'' rating on the shares and doesn't own them. ``The outlook is another story. Those things are going to be driving the stock more now than the accounting issue.'' .... |
