Havas announces first revenue growth in five years

Havas, the marketing services group that owns Euro RSCG Worldwide, has reported an annual growth of 0.8%, marking its first growth in annual revenue in five years.

It reported revenue of €1.472bn(£995m), up from €1.461bn (£987m) for the previous period but its operating income was down from €128m (£86.5m) in 2005 to €121m (£81.8m) for last year.

Havas, which also owns the MPG media network, also reported that total new business was 30% higher than the average over the last four years. For the year, new business was up from €1.055bn (£713m) to €1.931bn (£1.3bn).

The group’s won a number of new accounts last year including the global Reckitt Benckiser and Sanofi-Aventis advertising accounts, which moved into Euro RSCG.