JCDecaux: Number one outdoor advertising company in the world

Paris, 13 February 2011 – JCDecaux SA (Euronext Paris: DEC), announced today that it has become the largest outdoor advertising company in the world with revenues in 2010 of €2,350 million ($3,115 million). Based on its three divisions of Street Furniture, Transport and Billboard, JCDecaux operates 1,040,600 advertising panels in 56 countries.

Commenting on JCDecaux reaching this milestone, Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO, said: We are extremely pleased and proud that in 2010 JCDecaux became the number 1 outdoor advertising company in the world with total revenues of €2,350m ($3,115m). It all started in 1964 when Jean-Claude Decaux, our founder and today the Chairman of JCDecaux’s Supervisory Board, installed his first advertising bus shelters in Lyon driven by his vision of city beautification financed through advertising revenues at no cost to the municipalities and taxpayers. A new advertising medium was born and, since then, the JCDecaux team has successfully transformed a French local outdoor media company into one of the few global media owners, now in 56 countries around the world, for the benefit of all its stakeholders. In 1999, two years before the IPO of JCDecaux, an important milestone was achieved with the transforming acquisition of Avenir. Since then, JCDecaux has doubled its revenue primarily through organic growth in the two fastest growing outdoor segments – Street Furniture and Transport – and an increasing exposure to emerging markets. JCDecaux also grew through regional bolt on acquisitions, notably in China, UK, Austria and Germany. Today JCDecaux is number one in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East, and number 4 in the USA.”

A leading player in the MENA region, JCDecaux has established a strong foothold in the UAE, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as Algeria since the company entered into the regional market in 2007. Just in the last few months, the company has seen major developments in these countries. In September 2010, JCDecaux extended its business in Algeria through the 5-year exclusive contract for the bus terminals in 3 major cities, including the capital Algiers.

On 16 October 2010, JCDecaux’s subsidiary JCDecaux ATA was awarded a 10-year exclusive advertising contract for all 26 airports in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, providing one-stop-shop services for airport advertising across the country. Entering the Saudi Arabian market marked the 56th country in which JCDecaux has a presence worldwide. In December 2010, JCDecaux Dicon won a 10-year contract for the exclusive advertising concession at Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International (DWC), the brand new airport facility in Dubai in the UAE. DWC will be the world’s largest airport upon completion.

In Qatar, q.media Decaux, the joint-venture between JCDecaux and q.media, just rolled out two ground-breaking initiatives in one month. In January 2011, the company introduced the air-conditioned bus shelter in Doha, offering enhanced passenger comfort all year round. Earlier this month, q.media Decaux brought additional services to the city by launching Q Bike, the region’s first-ever self-service bicycle scheme.

JCDecaux will continue to invest in the region and contribute to the development of the industry through its dedication in quality and innovation.

Jean-Charles Decaux added: “Becoming the largest player in its industry has never been the ultimate goal of JCDecaux, however we want to take this opportunity to thank all our stakeholders for their support and trust, especially the local authorities, transport companies, private landlords as well as the advertisers and agencies with whom we have worked over the years. We believe that becoming the number one worldwide reflects the strong commitment and hard work of our teams around the world, the consistent quality of our operations and our continuous best in class innovation. We will continue to be entrepreneurial and take advantage of future consolidation and growth opportunities utilising our strong balance sheet while maintaining our financial discipline.”