Publicis Groupe revenues for quarter one rose by 4.4% to â‚Ź866 million but are still down 4.3% on the same period last year, despite a number of countries demonstrating a solid advertising recovery, says Levy.
Latin America experienced the highest organic growth of any individual region with 21%, beaten only by the region ‘rest of world’ which increased by 11.4%. During the quarter, Asia-Pacific grew by 9.1%, North America 4.2% and Europe trailed with only a 1.8% organic growth.
Chairman & ceo, Maurice Levy, said: “The numbers for the first quarter of 2004 demonstrate the solid advertising recovery which begun in 2003, notably in North America, Latin American and Asia, while, at the same time, they also reflect the still hesitant improvement in Europe. I remain entirely confident of prospects for the industry for the current year and think that the pace will pick up, particularly in Europe during the second part of the year.”
During this quarter, Publics continued the excellent pace set in winning new business during 2003. The strong performance of the networks generated â‚Ź830 million net new business; 40% represents advertising & marketing services and 60% was accounted for by media counsel and buying.
In March, both Ad Age and Lehman Brothers ranked Publicis Groupe first in new business worldwide for the month and second for the entire quarter. The latest RECMA league table for global advertising organisations by 2003 billings saw Publicis Groupe at the top spot for the second year running (see Starcom Drops In Worldwide Revenue Ranking).
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