Publicis Groupe's PR firms saw organic revenue growth of between 8% and 10% in the third quarter, CFO Jean-Michel Etienne told PRWeek today.
The PR agencies experienced “good growth during Q3” that was “above 8% and below 10%,” he said. The holding company reported $1.94 billion in overall third-quarter 2011 revenue, representing 6.4% organic growth compared with the prior year.
Olivier Fleurot, CEO of MSLGroup, said via email that his agency network's revenue grew organically by 6.5% in Q3. MSLGroup acquired Schwartz Communications in September.
The Paris-based holding company saw 5.2% US organic growth in the period and 5.5% organic year-over-year growth in North America. Publicis' organic Q3 growth in Europe was 6.5%. Organic growth represents change in revenue without measuring the impact of acquisitions or disposals.
The company earned 50% of its revenue from its SAMS unit, which includes PR agencies such as MSLGroup, the VivaKi digital unit, and healthcare firms. Publicis operates agencies including Kekst & Company and Freud Communications under the MSLGroup. It earned 31% of its Q3 revenue from advertising and 19% from media.
“In a climate of economic difficulty and uncertainty linked to sovereign debt, we will redouble our efforts so as to achieve our objectives for 2011: higher-than-market growth and the highest operating margin in the market,” said Publicis CEO Maurice Levy, in an earnings statement.
MSLGroup signed clients Ancestry.com and AQMD-Incremental in Q3. The group also launched a brand narrative service for consumer and healthcare marketers this month called MSLCamp.
