Publicis boss Maurice Lévy points to clients downsizing accounts and cancelling campaigns for slow third quarter
Publicis Groupe shares dropped by as much as a tenth after the Paris-based PR and advertising giant blamed ”an unusually large number of clients” downsizing, cancelling or delaying their campaigns in the third quarter.
Maurice Lévy
Failing to hit targets with only 0.7 per cent growth in organic revenue in the three months rolling up to September, Publicis reduced its growth outlook to one per cent growth – substantially below the 2.5 per cent target.
Lévy attributed the slump this to “an unusually large number of clients downsizing accounts and postponing or even cancelling campaigns”. Many of these issues were concentrated in the North American business.
Sapient was regarded as one unit of the business operating beyond expectations. Acquired back in January, Sapient revenue has grown by a reported five per cent and is “proving more significant than initially planned”.
The new digital ad unit helped catalyse a year-on-year sales boom of one third.
In 2015, the Groupe has added Sapient, The Creative Counsel Group. Match Media, Expicient Inc, Epic Communications, Relaxnews and Monkees, into the fold.