Deutsche Bank Comments On IPG Anticipated Loss

The trade press (Ad Age & WSJ) reported on Friday that Universal McCann has lost the U.S. & Canadian media account for Microsoft MSFT (up for review since January) to Publicis' Starcom MediaVest, although the agency retains the international duties in 35 countries outside of North America, Deutsche Bank reports. “We estimate the lost business is worth $50m in annual revenue to Interpublic Group IPG, or 0.8% of 2010 revenue,” Deutsche Bank writes. “While the loss hurts and will likely lead to layoffs in the SF offices, it is far from devastating the way that it may have been a number of years ago, and it does not affect our underlying investment thesis. “With mid-teens EBITDA growth and >30% EPS growth through 2013, we believe that IPG represents the most leveraged way to play the sustained recovery of global A&P budgets.” Interpublic Group closed Friday at $11.92.