Publicis Groupe posted better than expected March quarter results, with organic growth of 5.3% and gains in market share.
The France-based company again clearly established itself as the leading global advertising group for growth, helped by new business wins and a rebound in the tech sector.
Net revenue was 3.23 billion euros. For organic growth, Europe was up by 6.1%, North America 4.8%, Asia-Pacific 6.2%, Latin America 7.8%, Middle East & Africa 4%.
Australia posted “broadly stable” organic growth. Publicis had reported "negative" growth in Australia and New Zealand for the December quarter.
China posted 6.7% due to new business wins in Media. South-East Asia reported a double-digit performance fueled by Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
Publicis says it is confident, "despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties," on delivering 2024 targets, with organic growth of 4% to 5% and an 18% operating margin rate.
“Publicis had a very strong start to 2024, sustaining growth momentum despite ongoing macroeconomic tensions,” said CEO Arthur Sadoun.
“We accelerated on our organic growth this quarter, delivering +5.3%, ahead of expectations.
"There were three clear drivers of this performance.
“First, our ability to capture a disproportionate part of the increasing demand for data-led marketing transformation, boosted by AI, in a soon-to-be-cookieless world. This translated into the double-digit growth of our combined Epsilon and Publicis Media offer.
“Second, continued new business tailwinds, coming after we topped the league tables once again, and as we have for the past five years.
“Last but not least, the impact of a clear rebound in the tech sector, where we saw double-digit growth this quarter.
Looking at the rest of our business, Publicis Sapient recorded sequential improvement, with positive growth in the U.S. despite continued client cautiousness affecting the entire IT consultancy sector.
“Creative further showed its resilience, posting single-digit growth driven by new business and production.
“All of our regions performed well, with the notable acceleration of Asia fueled by strong growth in China.
"After extracting ourselves from the pack in 2023, we clearly carried that momentum into Q1. We expect this to be our 8th consecutive quarter of delivering the highest growth in the industry, leading to material market share gains.”
A slide from the results presentation for the March quarter 2024:
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