• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, October 24, 2022

Vivendi-owned ad-marketing holding company Havas Group reported a 12.7% revenue gain in the third quarter to approximately $657 million.

But organic revenue growth (which excludes currency and M&A impact) slowed sharply to 3.9%, versus 17.3% in Q3 2021. Organic growth in North America in the third quarter was 3.5%.

For the first nine months of the year Havas revenues were about $1.89 billion with organic growth of 8.7%. Organic growth for the first half of 2022 was 11.5%.

The results were published late last week by the parent company. Vivendi did not provide guidance for full-year 2022 growth for any of its divisions which in addition to Havas include Canal+ Group, Gameloft and others. 

Last week three other ad groups—Omnicom, Interpublic and Publicis—issued upgraded organic growth guidance for the full year while noting ongoing concerns about the bigger macroeconomic environment.

Speaking specifically about Havas on an earnings call with analysts, Vivendi CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine acknowledged that “the market is anticipating a slowdown,” and that Havas was prepared to put cost controls in place to address it. But he also stressed that the slowdown has not yet materialized.