Havas Group, part of Vivendi, posted a 4.4% net revenue gain in the first quarter to 588 million euros (about $646 million), while organic net revenue growth (which excludes currency and M&A impact) slowed to 1.9%. 

Like other ad holding companies, Havas cited last year’s COVID-rebounding double-digit growth in the first quarter to explain its slower growth this year.  

The Group’s North America region posted a 0.3% organic decline due to project delays that the firm said were expected to get going in the second half of 2023.  

Growth in Asia-Pacific was 4% while Latin America gained 27.3%.  

The Group added two acquisitions in the quarter, including HRZN, a German agency specializing in social media and content, and Noise Digital, a media performance and data analytics agency based in Vancouver.  

Havas also entered a strategic partnership in the US with Trinity Life Sciences in which Havas Health & You took a minority stake in Trinity.  

Account wins for the first four months of the year include Santander in Brazil, BMW in China and the Danone creative global win.  

Yannick Bolloré is chairman of Vivendi’s supervisory board and leads Havas Group as CEO.  Bolloré and Arnaud de Puyfontaine, Chairman of Vivendi’s Management Board and CEO, jointly declared: "All of our businesses progressed during the first quarter of 2023.”