MDC Partners Q2: Nadal's Stated Goal of Growth Recedes Ever Faster

(MoneyWatch)  MDC Partners CEO Miles Nadal is getting further away from his goal of growing revenues 1-3 percent in 2009, which he announced at the beginning of the year. In Q2 2009, MDC's revenues shrank 14.1 percent to $134.9 million. Net income was $0.1 million, compared to a loss of $4.5 million in 2008.

Nadal put a brave face on things:

We are seeing signs of an expanding advertising economy which we believe will slowly improve through the second half of 2009, with much better results in 2010.

There was something going up on MDC's books, and that's goodwill, up a couple of million to $240 million. "Goodwill" is, of course, an accounting fiction. It's not real money, as BNET explained earlier. Goodwill is currently 44 percent of MDC's assets, roughly the same since Q4 2008 when it was 45 percent.

All segments of MDC lost business in Q2. Among the damage yet to be reflected is Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners' loss of the Wendy's account. Previously, MDC closed We Are Gigantic. Crispin Porter + Bogusky acquired Sweden's Daddy even though it's status on the Burger King account is not as strong as it was.

The revenue decline also reflects the loss of a client at Accent Marketing earlier in the year that caused MDC to lay off nearly half its staff at the CRM unit.

• See BNET's previous coverage of MDC:
• Crispin Porter & Bogusky and Kirshenbaum Bond Owed $47 Million by MDC Partners
• MDC Partners Q1: Revenue Down 10%; Profit Comes Following Mass Layoffs
• MDC Q1 Preview: Freeman Off the Books; Goodwill "Unimpaired"; Nadal Does a Curious Art Deal
• 163 Laid Off at Accent Marketing, the Agency That's a Big Chunk of MDC Partners' Revenues
• Cliff Freeman CEO Exits After Fla. Lottery Pitch Loss; Twitter Trail Tells Strange Tale
• MDC Partners Q4: Cliff Freeman Mystery Deepens
• Does MDC Partners Have a "Goodwill" Problem?
• MDC Cuts Cliff Freeman Free; Venerable Agency's Options Get Narrower
• Cliff Freeman Loses Quiznos; Agency Survival in Question
• Cliff Freeman in Freefall? Client Gains Don't Seem Big Enough to Cover Lost Revenue
• Cliff Freeman Names New CEO; Turmoil as Usual