Havas returns to growth in Q1

Havas has reported organic growth of 1.5% year on year in the first quarter of 2010, up from an 8.4% fall in Q1 2009.

Revenue in Q1 2010 totalled €329 million, up 1.4% year on year.

Havas said that in Europe, France returned to positive organic growth of 0.5% in Q1, but contrasting levels of performance in the UK produced slightly negative growth overall (-1.5%).

There was a significant turnaround North America, said Havas, with growth of 5.2% in Q1, a big improvement on the -9.2% reported for the corresponding period in 2009. “Growth was driven by strong overall performance in all activities, and especially by the Euro RSCG network most notably in advertising, healthcare and corporate communications.”

“Latin America continued to post strong organic growth (+24.4% in Q1 2010) thanks to the excellent performance of media activities throughout the region and especially advertising in Brazil,” said Havas.

Q1 2010 also saw the return of positive organic growth of 4.4% in the Asia Pacific region, “driven largely by the good results achieved in the media and marketing businesses in China, India and Singapore”.

Net new business remained strong in the first quarter, totalling €574 million.