Havas Group Reports 2020 Slowdown, Second Half Improvement

Havas Group parent Vivendi has issued full-year and fourth quarter results and reported that growth in some segments of the company was “partially offset by the slowdown in other activities, mainly Havas Group and Vivendi Village [live events and ticketing],” which the company noted were particularly impacted by the pandemic.

That said Havas Group’s declines were largely in line with shortfalls at other agency holding groups and like many of its competitors showed improvement in the fourth quarter versus Q3.

Havas Group’s net revenues for the full year were approximately $2.46 billion, down 9.2% compared to 2019. The full-year organic revenue decline 9.9%.

Fourth quarter revenues were down around 9% with an organic decline of 7.5% which was an improvement over the 10.4% organic falloff recorded for the third quarter.

The company said that most regional performances in Q4 improved compared to the third quarter, the exception being Asia Pacific.

It didn’t provide specifics but said that Havas’ North American agencies “continued to hold up well, thanks to a dynamic advertising market and the resilience of health and wellness communications.”

Europe turned in an overall stronger performance in Q4, “although with contrasting results between countries.”

The company did not offer guidance as to when Havas would return to growth mode but did indicate that the group “has begun 2021 with confidence: business activity, especially in the second half of 2020, proved highly dynamic” with new client wins including Jacobs Douwe Egberts, Epic Games, Tetra Pack and PMU.”

The company cited over a dozen new business wins by healthcare-focused Havas Health & You during the year including assignments from AbbVie, Astellas, AstraZeneca, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche and Sanofi.

Havas Media brought in new business from Telefonica, Sanofi, JDE Peets, 3M, Europcar, Karo Pharma, Epic Games and others.

Thanks in part to the introduction of unspecified new “organizational structures” Havas is positioned “to make the most of any new growth opportunities its markets may present.”

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