Publicis reports 3.9% organic growth in revenue

Publicis Groupe has reported a 3.9% organic growth in revenue to €1.1bn (£883m) for the three months to September 30. The marketing services group says growth was fuelled by its digital business and emerging markets although the UK is weak.

In Europe, the group, which includes the Starcom media network, reported revenue of €411m (£329), up 2.2% at constant exchange rates and up 0.9% in organic growth terms. The stronger performing countries were France, central and eastern Europe, and Russia. In contrast, the UK, Spain and Germany started to show signs of a slow down.

For the first nine months of the year, digital activities represented 18.9% of group revenue, compared to 13.6% in the same 2007 period.

Maurice Levy, chairman and chief executive of the marketing communications group, says the third quarter results produced a higher than expected organic growth.

In line with market forecasts, Levy says it expects the industry to face a difficult end of 2008 and a “marked slowdown in 2009”.

He says that it will continue to focus on growing the market share of its advertising agencies, including Publicis, and on its digital businesses, which includes Digitas and Modem, and high-growth markets.

The third quarter results comes after the group posted a drop in revenue for the first half of 2008, owing to the negative impact of the financial crisis and a weak US dollar. Revenues dropped to €2.22bn (£1.7bn) from €2.24bn (£1.76bn) during the same period a year ago.