Living well is the best revenge, as the saying goes. For Sir Martin Sorrell, S4 Capital is proving a deft vehicle for vindication after his acrimonious split from WPP.
Sorrell has painted his new venture as a racy upstart, harnessing the rapid shift towards digital marketing and adverts. And investors have bought into his speedy growth story: the shares have risen almost fourfold since the group entered London’s main market in 2018 and have a toppy valuation. A forward enterprise value of 42 times ebitda — the metric of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation — and more than seven times forecast sales leaves no room for bumps.
S4 benefits from its youth. As a pure-play digital marketing group, it is without the
