• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, June 5, 2007

Delighted with its recent purchase of Digitas, Publicis Groupe plans to make additional digitally focused acquisitions, Maurice Levy, company chairman and CEO, said during an annual shareholder meeting on Monday.

"We have completed a major strategic move for the Groupe, with the acquisition of Digitas vaulting us into a leading global position in the extremely important area of digital and interactive communications," Levy said.

"The integration of Digitas is unfolding very smoothly, as its 16.8% revenue growth on a stand-alone basis in the first quarter of this year demonstrates."

2007 has begun for Publicis with net new business of $2.5 billion in the first three months, Levy said. He also predicted 5% organic growth for the whole year.

Commenting on Publicis' acquisition prospects: "We are targeting acquisitions, notably in health, technology and interactive advertising," Reuters reported Levy as saying. "We will also look for acquisitions to complement our offerings in some markets."