News

Havas Q1 growth boosted by LatAm and APAC

Havas has reported an year-on-year increase in revenues of 7.2% from €361m ($476m) to €387m ($510m), according to its Q1 2012 financial results.

Its operations in Asia-Pacific and Latin America experienced the greatest growth at 12.2% and 12.4%, respectively, during the quarter.

In Europe, the UK saw the most disappointing growth, retracting slightly by 0.2% due to a slowdown in marketing services activities. The rest of Europe has been affected by financial uncertainty in the region although Germany and Italy reportedly saw ‘highly satisfying growth’ outside of that.

Havas also reported a strong performance in France, bucking the trend in the rest of Europe and showing a 5.1% growth for Q1 2012 fuelled by its media business and advertising. North America posted 3.6% growth, with a significant contribution from its digital, healthcare communication and media business.

Overall, the group’s organic growth was down to 3.5% compared to 6.8% for the same period in 2011.

“The Group achieved good growth in the first quarter of 2012, despite a high comparative benchmark,” says Havas global chief executive David Jones. “All disciplines contributed to our performance including a continued acceleration in digital.”

The group’s net new business for Q1 2012 came to €605m ($796m) and included wins from Burger King, Carlsberg, Claire’s Accessories, DHL, eHarmony, Penguin, Sony and Whirlpool.

Last week, Publicis Groupe reported revenues of $1.9bn and Omnicom reached $3.3bn for the same quarter.

David Hing, London