Lagardère Unlimited: 14.8% drop in revenues for first half of 2014 in spite of World Cup

Lagardère Unlimited, a media and marketing rights agency of the French group Lagardère, had a turnover of €174m in the first half of 2014, or 14.8% less than the previous year (€204m), the company announced on 31/07/2014.

Lagardère Unlimited explained this decline in sales by pointing to "an unfavourable calendar, with no CAN (Africa Cup of Nations) taking place in 2014" -- a competition whose media rights are owned by Sportfive, a subsidiary of Lagardère Unlimited. The "less favourable program" of the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) "with no qualifying matches for the 2014 World Cup" was also highlighted. The sports marketing agency and subsidiary of Lagardère Unlimited, WSG (World Sports Group), has been partnered with AFC since 1993.

However, turnover for the second quarter of 2014 (€101m) was up by 6.4% over 2013 (€94m), thanks to "performance in sports marketing and hospitality, driven by the 2014 World Cup, as well as the development of activities in golf (organisation of Nordea Masters competition)," said Lagardère Unlimited.

The media and marketing rights agency showed…