Organic growth slows for Havas Group in Q1 2023 results
French holding group Vivendi has released its Q1 2023 results, reporting €611 million (A$1.011 billion) in revenue for its global subsidiary Havas Group, up 3.5% (+1.1% organic) compared to the first quarter of 2022.
Havas Group reported a net revenue of €588 million (A$973.126 million) which was up 4.4% compared to Q1 2022. Organic growth in net revenue was only up 1.9%, compared to a strong organic growth in Q1 2022 of 11.4%, thanks in part to a rebound in post-Covid activity.
The global business saw 1.4% organic growth in Europe, while North America saw a slight drop of 0.3% organic growth, which Vivendi has attribute to “project delays expected to materialise in the second half of 2023”. In Asia-Pacific the business saw 4% organic growth, with significant growth in India and China, while Latin America recorded 27.3% organic growth.
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Vivendi, Yannick Bolloré, and chairman of the Management Board and CEO, Arnaud de Puyfontaine, jointly commented: “All of our businesses progressed during the first
quarter of 2023. Many positive signs have emerged in the last few months.”
The pair noted that Havas had signed “major contracts” with several “prestigious clients”, including the global appointment of the Havas Creative network to Danone.
Locally, it has been a busy start to the year for Havas Group following the return of Red Havas CEO and global chairman of Havas PR Global Collective, James Wright, who will locally take up the role of Havas Creative Village CEO, taking responsibility for its agencies including Host/Havas, h/commerce, Red Havas, Havas Blvd, One Green Bean and Organic.
News of Wright’s return followed the announcement that Host/Havas CEO Laura Aldington would be stepping down after first joining the agency in 2007. Aldington’s departure followed the news of Havas PR CEO Simone Gupta in November.
Gayle While has since been tapped as the new Host/Havas CEO, working alongside Ant Moore, who has been promoted to the agency’s managing director.
The results come off the back of a strong performance in the 2022 financial year, which saw Havas Group post a full-year revenue of €2.76 billion (A$4.41 billion) in 2022, an 18.1% uplift year-on-year (YoY).
On 26 April, Vivendi traded at €9.61 (A$15.90) and had a market capitalisation of €10.45 billion (A$17.29 billion).
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