• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 11, 2021

After a year of declines exacerbated by the pandemic Dentsu Group rebounded sharply in the second quarter, the company reported today. The positive results are in line with competitors, most of which also returned to growth in the period or a little earlier.

Organic revenue growth (which excludes currency and M&A impact) was up 15%, including a 12% gain for operations in Japan and 17% across Dentsu International.

By region, Americas posted growth of 15.5% in the second quarter, while EMEA was 22% and APAC was up 10.2%.

The company’s updated outlook for full-year 2021 includes an organic growth forecast in the high-single-digits and average growth of between 3% and 4% from 2021 to 2024.

The outlook assumed no material reversals brought about by the pandemic for the remainder of the year, the company said.

North America grew 15.1% during the second quarter, partly driven by a “strong media performance” that the company expects to continue into the second half of the year.

First-half organic growth for Japan was 4.5% while Dentsu International grew by 6.2%.

The company’s reported revenue in Q2 was approximately $2.21 billion, up 18% and $4.46 billion for the first half, up 7.3%.

Dentsu President and CEO Toshihiro Yamamoto stated: “The greatest opportunity for brands today, as they build strategies to re-emerge from the pandemic, is customer experience transformation. Creating competitive differentiation through marketing strategies, supported by data, technology platforms, and analytics is where we see the greatest demand for our services.”

Those services, Yamamoto added, “also transform our revenue profile, generating a higher level of recurring revenues through ongoing managed services while also transforming our ability to deliver services from lower cost locations.”