Havas said Thursday that its revenues jumped nearly 16% in the third quarter to 516 million euro, or about $574 million at today’s exchange rate.
For the first nine months of the year, revenues for the French advertising holding company are up 18% to 1.55 billion euro, or about $1.72 billion. Exchange rates and acquisitions, including the $75 million purchase of FullSix in September, helped boost the revenue tally.
Organic revenue growth, which excludes the impact of currency fluctuations, acquisitions and asset sales, was 5.5% in Q3 and 6% for the first nine months of the year. That’s well above the roughly 1% organic growth posted by Publicis and in the same ballpark as Omnicom and Interpublic, which reported earnings earlier in the week.
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Havas’ North America results have been strong throughout the year, with 8.5% organic growth from January through September and 7.3% in Q3. Europe (excluding France and the UK) is the group’s second-best-performing region with 7.1% growth year-to-date and 7.3% growth in Q3.
Latin America has lagged, given weak economic conditions in some countries. The group posted a 1% decline in the region during Q3. For the year it is up nearly 2%.
Net new business (based on billings) for the first nine months was nearly 1.4 billion euro (about $1.6 billion) and included new assignments in the U.S. from Kmart, National Association of Realtors and RE/MAX.
Havas CEO Yannick Bollore said the company’s effort to boost collaboration among its different units has helped drive better results throughout the year. “With a seamless offering that leverages capabilities from across the group, we are a more valuable partner for our clients and more attractive workplace for top industry talent,” he said.