• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 9, 2005

Two of the world's largest agency holding companies--Interpublic and Havas--reported markedly different third quarter results early Wednesday morning. A financially beleaguered Interpublic, the parent of Initiative, Magna Global and Universal McCann, reported a net loss of $101.5 million, while Havas beat analysts' forecasts, delivering a 3.9 percent gain in organic revenues during the quarter.

Paris-based Havas, the parent of media network MPG, is controlled by Chairman Vincent Bollore, who has been orchestrating a creeping takeover of British rival Aegis Group. On Wednesday, Aegis said Bollore acquired another block of shares, bringing his stake to 24.99 percent of the voting stock of Aegis, just under a threshold that would give him another level of control over the Aegis board. Bollore continues to maintain that Aegis is simply a "financial holding" and that he does not have a strategic plan for integrating the media services and marketing research conglomerate with Havas.

Havas, meanwhile, attributed much of its growth to the strong performance of its North American operations, including Arnold Worldwide and MPG, but it cautioned that it would likely face a slowdown in the fourth quarter.

"Regaining market share remains Havas' priority objective. However this objective will not necessarily be reached in a linear manner," the company said in its third quarter earnings statement. "Following an organic growth of +2.8 percent during the first nine months of the year, a strong slowdown is estimated for the last quarter due notably to the high basis of comparison with fourth quarter 2004 (+4.6 percent) and the impact of the year's account losses."

Havas said it would unveil a new strategic plan "before the end of 2005."

Interpublic's losses, meanwhile, follow a $514 million restatement the company made in September, and compare favorably with a loss of $501.5 million during the third quarter of 2004. Interpublic, once the financial pride of Madison Avenue, has faced a succession of high-profile account losses, and recently disclosed potential illegal activities in some of its operations in certain regional markets.