Havas, describing itself as the “strongest challenger” in advertising, reported a 2.5% lift in organic revenue for the half year to June.
June quarter net revenue was up 3.8% to 724 million euro and the France-based global group confirmed full year guidance of 2% to 3% organic growth.
Most regions performed well, except for Asia-Pacific with net revenue of 59 million euro, a negative organic growth rate of -3.5%, mainly due to China.
The company was the second global advertising group to report June quarter earnings. Publicis Groupe, the market leader, posted a 4.8% jump in organic growth.
Havas said it continued to build new business momentum during the first half of the year, both globally and locally.
“This performance reflects the resilience of our model, the strength of our client relationships, and the continued success of our Converged strategy,” said CEO Yannick Bolloré.
“We are seeing momentum in new business across the group. We are also pleased with the progress at Horizon Global, our joint venture with Horizon Media, as we continue to build a differentiated approach for modern marketers.
“We continue to invest in areas of growing client demand through targeted acquisitions that strengthen our capabilities in sports marketing, experiential activation, and corporate influence, helping our clients build more desirable brands and forge deeper connections with consumers.
“As our industry evolves, we remain convinced that agencies closest to clients’ needs and businesses, combined with the power of our Converged.AI operating system and our disciplined investment in AI, are best positioned to adapt quickly, anticipate client challenges, and unlock growth.”
Bolloré said the industry is undergoing significant transformation.
“We truly believe that in this environment, scale alone is not a guarantee of competitive advantage,” he told analysts in a briefing.
“Our clients, as we can see, are increasingly expecting more integrated capabilities, more agility, and above all, measurable business outcomes. This is why we believe Havas is particularly well-positioned.
“We define ourselves as the strongest challenger in the market. We are a stable, coherent and agile group with a clear strategy and our famous integrated model.
“This clearly reinforces our position as the best challenger, and it gives us confidence in our ability to create value for our clients and deliver sustainable growth.
“This performance is built on a set of strengths that we have consistently developed over time. First and foremost, our clients that are at the centre of our model.”
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