For Havas Worldwide, the first half of 2016 has given it confidence of meeting its annual targets. The first half of the year was ‘positive overall; for Havas, with revenue up by 5.2 percent on an unadjusted basis and robust growth at agencies in Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.
“We have continued to enhance our profitability with a 20 basis points increase in our income from operations margin, and our financial structure is as healthy and solid as ever,” said Yannick Bolloré, Havas CEO.
The Holding Company saw some major wins including the global media account for Swarovski, the global digital, advertising and content account for five consumer healthcare categories of GSK, Shionogi, and two big wins in the US: media duties for Tracfone by Havas Media North America and Wallapop by our Edge agency. According to Mr Bollore, these wins will bring ‘a big boost to the North American business over the coming months’.
“Our Together strategy we implemented three years ago, which aims to create the most integrated and agile Group in the industry to deliver better outcomes for our clients, continues to deliver strong results,” Mr Bollore added.
The Group Revenue in Q2 2016 was Euro 581 million, giving a total of Euro 1,087 million for the first half, an increase of +5.2 percent on an unadjusted basis. The Group’s organic growth (excluding exchange rate variations and changes in the scope of consolidation) was +2.7 percent in Q2 2016 and +3.0 percent for H1 2016.
The APAC & Africa region, which also includes the Middle East, saw Q2 reaching organic growth of 6.7 percent for the first half.
The Group’s net new business for H1 2016 amounted to Euro 1,587 million, of which Euro 799 million was generated in Q2. Some of the biggest wins in media included Dr. Wolff, won by Havas Media Germany, Austria and Poland, and Universal Music Group, won by Havas Media Germany, Netherlands & Belgium for several countries. However, the Group’s offices in the Middle East & North Africa region did not manage to win any account in Q2.
