• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, October 23, 2009

Havas, the parent of MPG, Media Contacts, and agencies such as EURO RSCG, Thursday reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter results, reflecting the lagging effects of the global economic recession on the major agency holding companies. Paris-based Havas said organic revenues fell 9.3% from the third-quarter of 2008, though it net income remained relatively stable.

Havas noted that the rate of revenue erosion appears to be easing, and that as bad as the third-quarter was, it was an improvement from the second quarter of the year, when organic revenues fell 9.8%.

North America actually performed somewhat better, declining only 7.8% during the second quarter, while Europe was off 10.5%.

Havas attributed its North American results to stronger performance from its Euro RSCG network, especially in the healthcare and financial services sectors.

Havas' results mirror those of other major agency holding companies that have reported recently.

On Wednesday, Omnicom reported that worldwide revenues declined 14.4% during the third quarter of 2009.