Global advertising network, Havas, yesterday said that there has been a return to growth in Europe, with the exception of the UK. Posting an organic revenue decline of 3.8% for the fourth quarter (up from a 6.4% drop in the first half), the group said that trading in the UK remained in the negative.
Across the rest of Europe the trend was positive, thanks mainly to the good performance of media activities in the major European countries. Havas says that this reverses the negative trend of the last three quarters.
In Latin America, the trend remained positive due mainly to Mexico and Argentina and Asia-Pacific dipped, mainly in Singapore. The US saw improvements between Q3 and Q4.
Despite the broadly improved trading, the Paris-based group said that profits for the full year 2003 have fallen short of its expectations. Hit by the effect of the dollar’s weakness against the euro, the company posted overall organic growth of -17.2% for 2003.
Operating income and margin were lower than expected. Havas says that this is ‘entirely attributable’ to an ‘exceptional’ underperformance by Euro RSCG.
