• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, October 22, 2015

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. 

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.