The strong performance led the Groupe to upgrade its growth outlook for the full year to “close to 5%” from the previous guidance of between 4% and 5% growth. The upgrade factors in anticipated clients spend reductions in the second half of the year, a negative performance from transformation unit Publicis Sapient for the full year and a “negative impact from year-end budget adjustments after the positives of 2024.” 

By comparison, Omnicom reported Q2 organic growth earlier this week of 3%, a gross figure that analysts translate to roughly flat on a net basis, while WPP warned last week that it would lose ground for the quarter and downgraded expectations for the full year. Its full Q2 report is expected Aug. 7. 

The Groupe has been buoyed this year by what CEO Arthur Sadoun said was “an unprecedented new business run of over a dozen material wins” in the first half, Coca-Cola, Santander, Subway and Mars among them.  

“Now, in what is a particularly disrupted industry, we are looking ahead to the rest of the year and beyond with confidence and a single focus: executing our strategy.” 

The CEO asserted that the company was well positioned to win more market share and will continue to invest in “targeted M&A” to accelerated AI-led capabilities. 

The firm’s Q2 performance was strong across all regions including 5.3% growth in the U.S. and 4.6% growth in Europe.  

The company indicated that both media and creative services grew high-single digits on a percentage basis globally.  

Organic growth for the first half was 5.4% with a total revenue increase of 10.9%. 

The firm also projected that its operating profit margin would grow slightly above the 18% it achieved for full year 2024.  

Adland analyst Madison & Wall said that Publicis Groupe's Q2 results "will undoubtedly place the company well ahead of its direct competitors once again."