Aegis Q4: Not Talking to Havas; Deal Price Getting More Expensive; 780 Jobs Cut

(MoneyWatch)  Aegis used its 2008 full year results to send a number of messages yesterday, some more confusing than others. Let's start with the financials:

Aegis reported revenues for 2008 were up 21 percent to ?£1.3 billion; net income was down 4 percent to ?£89.2 billion (not adjusting for currency).

The company also said it will lay off 5 percent of its staff, or 780 people, across 40 countries.

CEO John Napier said he had not been in merger talks with Havas chief Vincent Bollore. That was odd, because Bollore keeps talking about making a bid, and the only issue to be decided is the timing. The Telegraph:

Asked whether he had discussed a merger with Havas with the French financier, Mr Napier said: "As far as these Havas rumours are concerned ... they haven't actually come up in discussion between Mr Bollore and myself."

Timing is important, because the markets indicate Bollore may have missed his chance to pick up Aegis at the cheapest possible price. Aegis was trading at about 50 pence in December, but has since inched up steadily to around 75p. In other words, the company is 50 percent more expensive than it used to be.

The next interesting question is, has peace broken out between Havas and Aegis because Bollore does not expect to have to deal with Napier in the long-term future? Dow Jones:

CEO John Napier says he had no ambitions to become permanent CEO. New CEO will arrive before end of 2009.

At which point, Napier will have been on the job for a year, and -- assuming he doesn't screw up --will therefore be the most qualified candidate to continue running the company. So why switch to a new CEO? It's either a genius power play by Napier, or, if he's leaving, it's the kind of message that Bollore will interpret as, "Yes, you can pick the next CEO."

AS BNET noted earlier today, productivity at Aegis is being maintained in the face of the recession's headwinds. Napier noted in his press statement that he was mindful of being strict about operating expense ratios:

Although we are pleased with the overall results a number of other trends were evident from my review of operating performance, in particular: ?€? following years of continuing growth, a tendency to develop capacity in advance of revenue, which has limited efficiency improvement ?€? a Keynesian 'stickiness' in variable costs, particularly in wage and performance bonus elements.

It's nice to see Keynes mentioned in an earnings release. We chided WPP chief Martin Sorrell for indulging his inner economics professor a while back. Comparing the productivity of WPP and Aegis suggests that Napier has done the better job of tackling that stickiness.

• See previous BNET coverage of Aegis:
• Alloy, Aegis Top BNET's Network Efficiency Ranking; WPP Slips
• Havas Q4: Flat Revenues Hide Rising Salaries Budget
• Havas-Aegis Deal Starts to Take Shape; GfK Will "Take a Look''
• The Havas-Aegis Deal Worst-Case Scenario
• With CEO Out, Wall Street -- and Havas? -- Plot Demise of Aegis