Paris based advertising group, Havas, has announced revenue of €500 million for the first half of 2005, representing organic growth of 2.2% year on year.
According to the group’s results for the first six months of the year, since the beginning of 2005 the group experienced an improvement in business generating organic growth of 3% in the second quarter compared to 1.4% in the first.
Havas attributes this growth to a good performance from the traditional advertising businesses and media expertise.
Geographically, France lost 1.6% in organic growth in the second quarter of 2005, but was up by 0.2% overall for the first half of the year. The UK showed an improvement of 4% in organic growth in Q2 compared to a drop of 3.3 in Q1, giving organic growth of 0.4% for the first half of 2005.
Europe enjoyed organic growth of 14.1% during April, May and June, giving an overall figure of 8.5% for the first half of 2005. This strong performance was driven by the momentum of countries such as Spain along with Eastern European countries and Belgium, all of which enjoyed high rates of organic growth, some in excess of 20%.
North America was shown to be essentially stable over the half year, with organic growth of 0.4%, while Latin America enjoyed an increase of 4.2% for the first six months of 2005.
In its results, Havas reported net new businesses for the second quarter totalling nearly €500 million, with a number of key accounts secured.
Havas is optimistic about the rest of the year, with the executive committee claiming the results reflect the start of the group’s recovery. They pointed out however, that the figures must be significantly improved upon by regaining market share in order to close the gap with its main competitors.
Recently, the advertising group announced a new leadership of Euro RSCG Worldwide following the resignation of James R. Heedin, resulting in the formation of a new international team to lead operations (see Havas Announces New Structure For Euro RSCG Worldwide).
Mercedes Erra and Stephane Fouks have been named as the executive co-chairmen of Euro RSCG Worldwide, with David Jones assuming the position as the new chief executive officer and Remi Babinet as chief creative officer.
Early last month, Phillippe Wahl was named as chief executive officer of Havas, with Vincent Bolloré, the company’s single largest shareholder, taking up the role of chairman of the board (see Bollore Named As Chairman Of Havas).
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