French advertising network, Havas Advertising, has posted a solid set of financial results with organic growth at 5.5% for the first half of the year. Traditional advertising grew by 1.6%, but the results were bolstered by an 8.3% growth in market services revenue, vindicating Havas’ strategy of moving its business to 60% market services, according to analysts at ABN Amro.
Havas had been set to takeover Tempus in a deal valuing the UK media agency network at around £400 million. The news of Havas’ bid emerged just over a month ago (see
Tempus Shares Soar On Havas Takeover Reports). Global communications group WPP has subsequently raised the stakes with a counterbid of 555p per Tempus share, effectively valuing the business at £440 million (see
Tempus Confirms WPP Offer). Havas is now expected to continue the auction and advance on WPP’s offering, although there was no mention of this in the group’s financials.
Havas’ 5.5% H1 organic growth is higher than expectations and compares favourably to WPP’s 3% and is in line with Publicis 6.3%, says ABN. Significantly, an anticipated profits warning was not part of Havas’ announcement. Net new billings for H1 were €1.7 billion.
ABN Amro: Hold
