Dentsu Announces Adoption of IFRS and Change in Fiscal Year-End

Dentsu Inc. (TOKYO: 4324) (ISIN: JP3551520004) (President & CEO: Tadashi Ishii; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) today convened a meeting of its Board of Directors at its Head Office in Tokyo at which it passed two resolutions. The first resolution concerns the adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (hereinafter "IFRS”) in place of the Japanese GAAP used to date, starting from the fiscal year ending March 2015, and the second concerns a change in the fiscal year-end stipulated in the current Articles of Incorporation of the Company. The fiscal year-end change is expected to be brought to the General Meeting of Shareholders which is scheduled to be held in late June, 2015, and is subject to shareholder approval. Details are provided below.

Reason

In March 2013, Dentsu acquired major U.K. listed advertising agency Aegis Group plc which changed its name to Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd. Currently operating in more than 120 countries and territories worldwide, the Company has maintained steady growth. Under these circumstances, Dentsu has decided to adopt IFRS in order to increase comparability in international capital markets. Furthermore, having all the consolidated subsidiaries share the same closing date promotes unified management across the Group, as well as enhancing transparency through the timely and appropriate disclosure of management information and financial results.

Transition to IFRS

The adoption of IFRS will take effect from Dentsu’s consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2015 (fiscal 2014). Japanese GAAP will be used for the financial statements up until the end of the third quarter (ending December 31, 2014). Please refer to the attached document for the effects that the adoption of IFRS will have on the Company’s Consolidated Financial Statements.

Change in Fiscal Year-End

Current: March 31
After change: December 31
Due to this change in fiscal year-end, fiscal 2015 will be a transitional period of nine months from April 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015.

Consolidated subsidiaries whose closing date is other than December 31 will also be subject to the same change.

In the case of consolidated subsidiaries with a December 31 closing date, the fiscal period will consist of the twelve months from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015, without any change.

From fiscal 2016 (year ending December 2016) onward, the fiscal period will be the twelve-month period from January 1 to December 31.

Future Financial Outlook

The financial outlook for fiscal 2015 (the nine months from April 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015) will be provided in the Company’s announcement of consolidated financial results for the fiscal year ending March 2015 that is scheduled to be made in May 2015.

[About the Dentsu Group]

Dentsu is the world’s largest advertising agency brand. Led by Dentsu Inc. (TOKYO: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004), a company with a history of 113 years of innovation, the Dentsu Group provides a comprehensive range of client-centric brand, integrated communications, media and digital services through its eight global network brands—Carat, Dentsu, Dentsu media, iProspect, Isobar, mcgarrybowen, Posterscope and Vizeum—as well as through its specialist/multi-market brands including Amnet, Amplifi, Data2Decisions, Mitchell Communications (PR), psLIVE and 360i.

The Dentsu Group has a strong presence in 124 countries across five continents, and employs around 40,000 dedicated professionals. Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd., its global business headquarters in London, oversees Dentsu’s agency operations outside of Japan. The Group is also active in the production and marketing of sports and entertainment content on a global scale.
www.dentsu.com

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20141111006703/en/