Global advertising group Havas reported organic growth of 2% for the March quarter, with “very good commercial momentum”.
Net revenue was up 4.8% to €617 million.
Vivendi, its parent company, said Havas had one of the strongest growth rates in the communications sector.
The result is within the range of other global advertising groups. IPG posted 1.3% organic growth in net revenue for the March quarter, Omnicom 4%, Publicis Groupe 5.3% and WPP reported like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs down 1.6%.
Havas has been pursuing a policy of targeted acquisitions, with three new companies acquired since the start of the year.
Acquisitions contributed to an increase of 3.8% and included income from Uncommon, Eprofesionnal, Shortcut and Ledger Bennett.
In Europe, performance was “solid” with growth driven by almost all countries and activities. North America posted a slight decrease in line with expectations.
Asia-Pacific posted “very satisfactory” growth, particularly in India.
“Havas is experiencing very good commercial momentum, as illustrated by the wins of Fedex on the creative side at the European level, the media budget of the SNCF group in France and Famous Footwear in the United States,” Vivendi said.
“After two record years, Havas has continued its strong acquisition momentum since the beginning of the year with the integration of three new agencies.
“Two agencies are based in the United Kingdom: Ledger Bennett, a global B2B marketing agency, and Wilderness, a multi-award-winning social marketing agency, strengthening Havas's offer in these fast-growing areas.
“Ted Consulting, a French data and digital transformation consulting firm, has joined Havas Media Network to create a first-of-its-kind solution combining data, automation, robotization and artificial intelligence.
“These acquisitions are in line with the group's ‘customer-centric’ approach, which aims to diversify the solutions offered to clients in terms of digital and data.
“Havas continues to integrate artificial intelligence and new technologies at the heart of all its expertise, in line with its motto ‘Be better with AI. Be better than AI’ to design, produce, and deliver personalised content and experiences at scale.”
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