Havas’ sharp fall in growth and its new strategic plan 

Chris Pash
By Chris Pash | 29 July 2024
 
Credit: Annie Spratt via Unsplash

Havas has launched a strategic plan named Converged.

Key parts of the plan include a new operating system and €400 million over the next four years invested in technology, data and AI.

The solution has already been implemented by a number of clients and the company says initial feedback has been positive.  

Havas posted negative organic growth of -2.3% in the June quarter.

However, the company posted a 6% rise in EBITDA to €125 million for the three months, as the France-based global advertising group kept a tight grip on costs. 

Adrien de Saint Hilaire from Bank of America, in a briefing on the company’s latest results, noted the sharp deterioration in organic growth between the March and June quarters. 

The drop was mainly caused by a partial loss of a big client in the US and the reduction of COVID vaccines, a client.

Vivendi CFO Francois Laroze said this meant negative organic growth of 6.5% in the US. This compared to Europe, up 3.8%, Latin America  8.8% and Asia Pacific 0.5%.

“I think we still have an organic growth impact by the partial loss of this client during the third quarter. We hope we'll be able to bounce back during the fourth quarter or next -- first quarter 2025.

“But we are still very confident in terms of ability to increase our margin and increase our figures growth at the end of the year.

Vivendi is also still pursuing a separate listing of Havas, with Amsterdam the proposed stock exchange

A decision is expected late October.

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