De Pouzilhac Steps Down As Havas Chairman

Alain de Pouzilhac has stepped down from the position of chairman and chief executive officer of Paris based advertising group, Havas, after losing control of the agency to French industrialist Vincent Bolloré.

Havas’s board of directors has agreed to a transitional period in which Richard Colker will assume the position of chairman and chief executive. A team of three directors, Ed Eskandarian, Fernando Rodes and Jacques Seguela, all of whom will take responsibility for the group’s executive functions, will back Colker.

Pouzilhac will continue to serve as a member of the board of directors, giving Havas the benefit of his experience in the role.

Havas has continued to perform strongly, leading on from its turnaround, which began in the first quarter of 2004. In the company’s latest financial results it showed both organic growth and Net New Business, to be up by 1.4% in the first quarter of 2005, double what it achieved in the same period of 2004 (see Havas Continues Strong Performance).

Havas attributes this strong growth to the performance of three regions; North America enjoying organic growth of 1.8%, Latin America once again achieving an outstanding increase of 19.7% and France and the rest of Europe outperforming the market, rising by 2.2% and 2.1% respectively.

The UK was shown to be down by 3.3%, primarily as a result of the postponement of government advertising expenditure due to the national elections. However, Havas says that this negative growth does not alter its predictions of positive growth for the remainder of the year.

Havas: www.havas.com