Publicis Groupe announced today that it delivered stronger-than-expected growth in the fourth quarter of 5.7%, with full-year growth of 6.3%.

The full-year growth spurt exceeded previous guidance of between 5.5% and 6%.  

Those percentages refer to net organic revenue growth, which excludes the effects of M&A and currency fluctuations throughout the year.  

Operating profit margin for the year was 18%.

After all the major holding groups report full-year results, it is expected that Publicis will be top-ranked in both organic growth and operating margin for 2023. Adjusted free cash flow was 1.7 billion euros. 

The organic growth outlook for the full year 2024 is between 4% and 5% while maintaining a profit margin of 18%.

Free cash flow is expected to rise to between 1.8 and 1.9 billion euros. 

Net revenue for the year was 13.1 billion euro -- up 4.2%, while total reported revenue reached 14.8 billion euro, up 4.3%. Revenue in Q4 was 3.6 billion euro, up 2.3%. 

Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun said the strong growth “means that not only are we substantially outperforming our holding company peers, we are also growing twice as fast as the main IT consulting firms.”

Sadoun added: “With a reported revenue of close to 15 billion euros in 2023, up 35% versus 2019, Publicis has firmly established itself as our industry’s second-largest player [behind WPP] and the first in terms of market capitalization. “ 

For the full year in North America, net revenue was up 4.9% organically with the U.S. -- up 5% organically -- on top of a double-digit growth last year, fueled by Media activities at double-digit growth rates.

Epsilon net revenue increased by +9.6% organically on the year. Creative activities were broadly stable on the year.  

Organic growth in Europe was 9.0% and nearly 3% in the Asia Pacific region. Latin America was up nearly 9%.  

In Q4 media accounted for one-third of revenue and accelerated to double-digit growth, supported by a solid ramp-up in new business. Epsilon posted a second consecutive quarter of double-digit growth, led by the high demand for first party-related data services. Creative posted low-single digit growth.