MUMBAI: French media communications agency Havas has reported a 10 per cent rise in its revenues in the third quarter ended 30 September to €428 million from €387 million a year earlier.
The group‘s organic growth was 2.0 per cent in the third quarter and 2.5 per cent for the first nine months of the year. Revenues from new businesses in the third quarter were €304 million, which includes new clients, clients retained after a competitive review, and new product or brand expansions for existing clients.
The Asia Pacific and Africa region grew at 11.8 per cent with India and China being the forerunners in the growth. The region witnessed a number of significant new wins in this period like Tata Motors in India, Playstation and Study Adelaide in Australia, Sugon and YFY Investment in China. Danone opted for Havas digital agencies in Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur.
Havas CEO David Jones said, "The macro-economic environment continues to be challenging. Notwithstanding, the Group‘s organic growth in North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific increased in the third quarter, and we continued to generate healthy net new business. Not surprisingly, Europe slowed in Q3 though the Group continued to gain market share in the region, reflecting our competitive strength in this market. Digital continues to accelerate and is an increasingly important driver of the business."
In September Havas rebranded 316 of its creative agency Euro RSCG Worldwide offices to Havas Worldwide to underscore the group‘s unique integrated structure.
Havas said growth slowed across the whole of Europe in the third quarter. France declined slightly in the third quarter due to a limited number of clients reducing spend. The UK, too, was down slightly as last year‘s loss of certain accounts continued to affect this quarter, although the losses have now been almost entirely offset by new wins.
Performance in the rest of Europe was mixed, with growth driven by Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Germany and Russia in particular, plus a return to growth for Spain. The performance delivered by BETC London, a start-up launched just over a year ago, deserves special mention, as do recently acquired agencies such as Boondoggle and Creative Lynx.
The growth rate for North America accelerated in the third quarter, a particularly pleasing performance given the high comparative base in Q3 2011.
Double-digit growth in Havas‘ Asia-Pacific operations was driven mainly by China and India, with all business lines contributing to this strong performance.
Havas said growth in Latin America accelerated considerably and continues to deliver solid performance, driven mainly by digital, media, advertising and healthcare communication. Brazil in particular delivered strong performance in the region.
