(Bloomberg) -- A London-based marketing consultancy which counts some of the biggest US tech names among its clients saw its shares halve following a profit warning.
Next 15 Group Plc, whose customers include Amazon.com., International Business Machines Corp., Salesforce Inc. and ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, plunged as much as 53% on Friday in its biggest one-day loss on record. The AIM-listed firm said that one of the biggest customers of its Mach49 business has not renewed a contract, which had been expected to add more than £80 million ($105 million) of sales in 2026.
“While the Group has seen strong performances from a number of its consumer-facing businesses, it has continued to see an ongoing weakness in spend from its technology customers as well as a reduction in revenues from its public sector clients,” Next 15 said in a statement.
Next 15, run by Chief Executive Officer Tim Dyson, owns brands that advise clients on business areas including public relations, marketing and data analysis.
A pullback in spending from technology clients has been a pain point in the advertising industry, with companies like S4 Capital Plc flagging continuing caution among customers. However, there have been signs of an early rebound. Larger peer WPP Plc recently said that tech spend is starting to stabilize.
“This is undoubtedly a disappointing update,” Shore Capital analyst Chris Bottomley said in a note to clients. “We are placing our recommendation under review until we’ve had the opportunity to speak with management.”
--With assistance from Amy Thomson and Joel Leon.
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