French outdoor advertising company JC Decaux raised its revenue guidance for the year today as first-half profits topped expectations, lifting its shares.
The world's second-largest outdoor advertising firm reported a 48 per cent jump in net profit to €27.9 million, boosted by new contracts and a brighter advertising market.
"JC Decaux is increasingly benefiting from an improving European advertising market, while the company's operations in the United States and Asia-Pacific are being supported by continued growth in these advertising markets," it said in a statement.
Higher revenue and cost control efforts helped lift operating profit 13.6 per cent to €125 million, pushing the operating margin to 15.8 per cent of sales from 14.6 per cent a year ago.
"These excellent results should lead (analysts) to raise their estimates," ETC Pollak Prebon, a Paris brokerage, said in a note.
By early this morning, Decaux shares gained 2.8 per cent to €18.15, outperforming the European media sector's 0.3 per cent gain.