Havas reported 3.4 percent organic growth in the first quarter of 2016 that translates into USD 571.1 million. “We are satisfied with the organic growth of 3.4 percent achieved in Q1 2016,” said Yannick Bolloré, Chairman and CEO, Havas.
The quarterly earnings showed the organic revenue growth of just 1.2 percent in the U.S. and fell by 1.6 percent in the U.K. Citing the reasons for the low growth in these regions Mr. Bolloré said the baselines for these two regions were very high. He said he was happy with the results saying, “All our regions delivered growth despite high baselines, especially in the UK and US.”
Other regions like Asia Pacific & Africa showed a solid growth of 4.3 percent . China and Australia emerged as the biggest contributors in this region. Both benefited from the positive impact of last year’s wins such as Citroën and Defence Force Australia.
In Latin America, despite a difficult macro-economic environment, Havas reported an 11.4 percent growth surge, driven mainly by Brazil and Argentina. This is in contrast to Omnicom who reported a 7.8 percent decrease in Latin America, even though Omnicom’s size in the region is much larger.
Europe overall delivered an organic growth of 4.1 percent. A particular strong growth was seen by BETC Paris and Havas Media France.
Like the previous quarter, Mr Bolloré attributed this success to the Village model. He said, “This powerful momentum reflects the sustained loyalty of our clients and the excellent work done by our teams around the world, for which I would like to thank them. The level of New Business was particularly high in this early part of the year, and I would like to underscore the gathering pace of “Village” wins as testimony to the relevance of our integrated yet flexible business model.”
Some of the recent global acquisitions for Havas that made positive contribution to the Group’s results are FullSix, Just::Healthcare, CSA, Intervalles, Symbiotix and Tribu.
Overall Havas reported USD 889.4 million in net new business for the first quarter of 2016. “On the strength of this performance, wholly in line with our forecasts, we can once again look to the months ahead with confidence,” Mr Bolloré concluded.
