Publicis upgrades global forecast as it reports 5.8% growth in Q3

Publicis Groupe has revised its global forecast for 2024 upwards for a second time driven by a "strong" new business strategy.

In Q3 results reported today (17 October), the group now expects an organic growth of at least 5.5% for 2024, up from the 5% floor given in Q2. 

In Q3, Publicis Groupe organically grew net revenue by 5.8% to €3,423m, building on 5.6% growth in Q2 and 5.3% in Q1.

Arthur Sadoun, chair and chief executive of Publicis Groupe, said the main reason for the upgraded guidance was new business.

He said: “New business tailwinds continue to sustain the momentum and we are expecting for the full year that we are going to outperform the market by 400 basis points, roughly 4% on the average.”

On Tuesday (15 October) Omnicom reported 6.5% organic growth for Q3, but this figure is not directly comparable with Publicis' 5.8% because Omnicom includes pass-through costs in its revenue figures.

Sadoun added: “We are at 5.8% – that represents 150 basis points [1.5%] ahead of our peers, and accelerating over four years, despite the difficulties that we have encountered in terms of microeconomics.”

European net revenue grew 4.9% on an organic basis, with accelerated growth in both France (7.3%) and Germany (7.6%), which both experienced double-digit growth in media.

UK growth was “broadly flat” as a “strong” performance from creative and media was offset by a decline from digital consulting arm Publicis Sapient, which has faced challenges across all regions this year due to clients’ “wait and see” approach to business transformation.

North America grew by 4.7% organically in Q3, and the US posted 4% organic growth. 

Asia-Pacific recorded 6.4% growth with an accelerated 12.4% organic growth in China.

Globally, the group experienced near-double digit growth for media and data arm Epsilon across all regions.

Sadoun added: “Once again, we were able to gain market share by capturing a disproportionate amount of client demand for personalisation at scale, with our combined media and Epsilon activities growing at almost 10%.”

In Q3 Publicis invested $1bn to acquire influencer marketing platform Influential and commerce marketing company Mars United.

Addressing the acquisitions, Sadoun said: “We are now clearly leading on three critical expertise for our clients: addressable media, creators and commerce. 

“We are then able to directly link this expertise with Epsilon’s identities around the world to create a connected media ecosystem that we can build transparently within our clients’ owned environments.”