Publicis Groupe has reported an organic growth rate of 0.2% for the second quarter of 2007 and said that the full year figure is likely to be worse than originally forecast.
Growth for the first half of the year was 1.6%, whilst revenue for the period rose by 6% to €2.2 billion.
Maurice Lévy, chairman and CEO, said: “Organic growth in the second quarter, and for the first half as a whole, does not reflect what Publicis Groupe has regularly achieved nor its potential.
“In contrast to this modest organic growth, however, all other indicators again showed improvement: new business, margin, free cash flow and level of debt. This clearly illustrates the capabilities and the potential of Publicis Groupe.”
He added: “I would like to highlight our profit margin for the first half of 2007. On a comparable basis, that is to say excluding the effects of Digitas, our profit margin equalled 15.3% compared with 15.2% previously – and this despite a modest level of organic growth.
“This should allow us to easily achieve our objective of 16.7% for 2008, meaning that we are raising our target in light of the dilutive effect of Digitas’ relatively smaller margin, as well as acquisitions in the digital sector.
Publicis acquired US digital and direct marketing agency group Digitas for $1.3 billion (£660 million) in cash at the end of last year (see Publicis Buys US Digital Marketing Firm).
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