Omnicom reported a 3% increase in organic revenue for the second quarter with total revenue for the period totaling just over $4 billion, up 4.2%. It maintained full-year guidance of achieving organic growth of between 2.5% and 4.5%. 

But as Madison & Wall’s Brian Wieser noted after the company issued its results, Omnicom’s organic revenue figure is not a net figure and does not exclude pass-through costs such as those related to principal-based trading, which competitors like Publicis and WPP provide. Wieser estimated that Omnicom’s net organic revenue for the period was flat versus a year ago.  

The company is the first to report Q2 results among the major advertising holding groups, although WPP issued an early “profit warning” last week disclosing that its Q2 results will be significantly below what it had previously indicated. The firm will issue its full Q2 report on August 7. Publicis Groupe will issue its results on Thursday.  

Omnicom reported that its Media & Advertising division was up 8.2% and Precision Marketing was up 5%, together representing 68% of total revenue. Within the Media & Advertising unit, media was the best performer while the group’s creative ad agencies were roughly flat.  

The company recorded nearly $89 million in “repositioning costs” for the first half of the year, primarily related to severance payments. The firm also spent $66 million on costs related to its proposed acquisition of Interpublic, which CEO John Wren told analysts on an earnings call is still on track to close later this year. He noted that 13 of the 18 countries and regions requiring approval of the transaction have given it, including the Federal Trade Commision in June.  

CFO Phil Angelastro stated that the European Union has not yet given its blessing to the merger but declined to identify the other markets where approval is required. The UK has indicated that it could give approval on Aug. 13 or proceed to “phase two” of its ongoing investigation.  

Asked about tariff impact on the business generally, Wren said that it was too early to tell but that for now he sees it as a “bump in the road,” that the company and its clients will surmount.  

Wren said the company had not noticed a dramatic falloff in the pipeline of new business opportunities, which contrasted with WPP comments last week that it had seen new business opportunities fall by about two-thirds compared to the previous year.  

“Overall, Omnicom’s numbers will likely be broadly reflective of the relative strength of the broader industry,” Wieser said. “By contrast, the weak numbers from WPP reported last week and likely soft results from IPG yet to come representing negative outliers.” 

Publicis’ figures, he added, “will likely come in stronger than Omnicom’s, representing the healthiest results for the industry this quarter.”