Publicis Groupe, after posting advertising industry sector beating results for 2023, is forecasting organic growth of 4% to 5% in 2024.
The France-based global advertising company reported full year organic growth of 6.3% in 2023, above the 5.5% to 6% guidance last upgraded in October. The group in 2023 increased its full year result outlook three times.
The company is confident of outperforming this year despite macroeconomic challenges, hitting the March quarter "significantly" ahead of the industry on organic growth.
Publicis has streaked away from its peers. Competitor Omnicom earlier this week reported 4.4% organic revenue growth for the December quarter and 4.1% for he full year.
IPG posted a rise in organic growth of 1.7% for the December quarter and a negative 0.1% for the full year.
Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun says his company, in a very challenging macroeconomic context, and after six years of transformation, has "definitely extracted" itself from the pack.
"Our +6.3% net revenue organic growth for the full year, coming after a stronger than expected end to the year at +5.7% in Q4, means that not only are we substantially outperforming our holding company peers, we are also growing twice as fast as the main IT consulting firms," he says.
"What is true for organic growth is also true for our financial KPIs, be it on margin or on free cash flow.
"At a moment when our clients need partners that can truly help them transform in a challenging and ever-changing environment, our unique model has made the difference, allowing us to significantly gain market share and rank first in new business for the fifth year in a row.
"With a reported revenue of close to 15 billion euros in 2023, up 35% versus 2019, Publicis has firmly established itself as our industry’s second largest player and the first in terms of market capitalisation.
"Entering 2024, we feel confident in sustaining this momentum, just as we’ve done for the last four years."
In the US, Publicis reported organic growth of 6.1% for the December quarter.
Asia-Pacific grew 4%, with China back to positive numbers and a strong performance in SE Asia and India "more than offsetting "negative" Australia and New Zealand".
Later, Sadoun expanded this during a briefing of analysts. "Australia and New Zealand were slightly negative this quarter, reflecting a decline in media in the non food consumer goods sector," he said.
A slide from the results presentation:
And the numbers:
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