Havas, citing growth in third-quarter revenue in North America, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region, reported a 10.6 percent increase in revenue to $546.2 million. Organic revenue in the period climbed 2 percent.
For the first nine months, revenue rose 9.1 percent to $1.6 billion, with organic revenue rising 2.5 percent.
On an investors' call, David Jones, chief at the Paris-based parent of agency networks like Havas Worldwide and Arnold Worldwide, said Havas has been awarded Unilever’s global data business after a review that included other advertising data companies as well as management consultancies.
Jones said that while the macro-economic environment continues to be challenging, the company continued to make gains. “Not surprisingly, Europe slowed in Q3 though the group continued to gain market share in the region, reflecting our competitive strength in this market," he said. "Digital is a bigger part of our business and continues to accelerate and is an increasingly important driver of the business.”
Like larger competitors WPP Group, Omnicom, Publicis and Interpublic, Havas said marketers were recently making spending cutbacks. Noting that September was the weakest month in the quarter, Jones acknowledged a slowdown but doesn't see marketer activity “dramatically falling off the cliff.”
In the quarter, organic revenue revenue declined 0.6 percent in France and 1.6 percent in the U.K. In the rest of Europe, it was flat at 0.7 percent. In North America organic revenue climbed 2.5 percent and 11.2 percent in the rest of the world, which includes a 11.8 percent rise in Asia Pacific and Africa and a 10.7 increase in Latin America.
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