• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 4, 2022

Stagwell Inc. reported net organic revenue growth in the second quarter of 16% versus the prior year period on net revenue of $556 million.

For the first six months of the year organic revenue growth was 19.6% on net revenue of $1.082 billion.

The company reaffirmed its full-year organic growth outlook of 18% to 22%.

On an earnings call Thursday morning company CEO Mark Penn noted that Q2 growth came on top of 29% organic growth in the second quarter of 2021 for two-year aggregated growth of 45%.

A big part of the growth story is getting top clients to spend more, said Penn, noting that the average revenue spend for the firm’s top 25 clients is now $6 million versus $4.5 million a year ago.

The firm’s digital capabilities now account for 57% of its net revenue.

For the second quarter organic growth at the company’s integrated agencies network was 9.3%. Growth for the media network, including Assembly was 33% while the communications division (PR) was 27.9%.

Net new business wins totaled $31 million in annualized revenue for Q2 and Penn noted that the pitch pipeline has accelerated in the last couple of months with Stagwell competing for several $10 million-plus pieces of business. Penn confirmed today that ad agency Anomaly has just won the creative account for high-tech driving range company Topgolf.

Penn said the rebound in the firm’s travel businesses was a growth driver and that the outlook, at least for now, is for a strong and “competitive holiday season.” So far, the company is not seeing cutbacks from clients, despite concerns by some of a recession later this year or in 2023.