Defacto awards JCDecaux the La Défense street furniture contract

Regulatory News:

Defacto, the state-owned body responsible for managing the La Défense business district in western Paris has announced that, following a competitive tender process, it has awarded the contract for advertising and non-advertising street furniture to JCDecaux (Paris:DEC), the number one outdoor advertising company worldwide. Defacto owns all the public space in La Défense, an area that is home to 2,000 companies and 1,500 corporate headquarters, with 150,000 employees and 20,000 residents, attracting over 8 million visitors every year.

The contract will cover the installation, maintenance and operation of 2m² MUPI® city information panels, 2m² digital displays, 8m² scrolling Senior® billboards and 8m² billboards specifically designed for Defacto (including a number of digital displays) and advertising columns. This represents a total of 111 traditional and digital advertising panels and 55 digital displays. JCDecaux will also provide non-advertising street furniture including a range of newspaper stands.

The contract underlines JCDecaux’s ability to deliver innovative, tailor-made digital solutions as already demonstrated by the installation of 400 digital displays and a 39m² Giant Screen in the Aéroports de Paris airports. JCDecaux developed a unique digital product specifically for Defacto, creating vertical 8m² displays (photos enclosed) that are ideally suited to the urban environment of the La Défense business district.

The premium street furniture developed for this contract strengthens the range of digital and traditional advertising solutions targeting business audiences that JCDecaux has designed for exceptional, high-profile locations. These include the media space in the network of 32 airports managed by JCDecaux in France and at the Porte de Versailles Exhibition Centre in Paris.

Katayoune Panahi, Chief Executive Officer of Defacto, said: "Our decision to choose JCDecaux reflects Defacto’s determination to inject a new dynamism into La Défense! Our priority is to develop services for all key stakeholders and these new street furniture solutions will give us the essential communication tools to reach all the people using this business district. This contract award reflects our drive to promote innovation and we are delighted that JCDecaux has offered us a range of street furniture specifically designed for La Défense. Following Forme Publique, the biennial dedicated to street furniture design, and pending the publication of the master plan for our public areas and the development of the open-air museum, this contract represents a major milestone in the achievement of our goals.”

Jean-Charles Decaux, Chairman of the Executive Board and co-CEO of JCDecaux, said: "We are delighted that Defacto has chosen JCDecaux to operate the street furniture assets of La Défense, underlining JCDecaux’s expertise and commitment to quality and innovation. As a result of this contract, La Défense, the number one business district in Europe, will benefit from a powerful array of cutting-edge digital advertising solutions. This new contract further strengthens JCDecaux’s national network and our position as the number one street furniture company in France, benefiting our clients and their branding strategies.”

Key figures for JCDecaux:

• 2011 revenue: €2,463m; Revenue for the first nine months of 2012: €636m
• JCDecaux is listed on the Eurolist of Euronext Paris and is part of the Euronext 100 index
• No.1 worldwide in street furniture (426,200 advertising panels)
• No.1 worldwide in transport advertising with 175 airports and 280 contracts in metros, buses, trains and tramways (367,800 advertising panels)
• No.1 in Europe for billboards (208,500 advertising panels)
• No.1 in outdoor advertising in the Asia-Pacific region (202,200 advertising panels)
• No.1 worldwide for self-service bicycle hire
• 1,013,500 advertising panels in more than 55 countries
• Present in 3,700 cities with more than 10,000 inhabitants
• 10,300 employees

Key figures for La Défense

• Surface area of 1.6 million m² including 12 green spaces
• 1,200 trees
• 310,000 m² of spaces and paths for pedestrians
• 60 monumental, modern art sculptures
• 10 kilometers of underground service galleries used by Defacto technicians. The site also includes 265 ventilation plants including 610 machines!
• 100 public lifts are in operation throughout the business district requiring constant maintenance work
• 14,000 public light fittings