NEW YORK: Omnicom Group's public relations agencies reported flat revenue growth in the second quarter, up just 0.1% to nearly $350 million in the period.
The quarter was compared with Q2 2015, when Omnicom’s communications firms saw organic revenue growth of 0.3%. The holding company’s PR firms include FleishmanHillard, Ketchum, Porter Novelli, and Marina Maher Communications.
Omnicom pulled together the PR firms in its DAS division in February into the newly created Omnicom Public Relations Group, putting former Porter Novelli CEO Karen van Bergen in charge of the unit.
As a whole, the holding company reported a 3.9% increase in net income to $326.1 million, while operating income was up 4.3% in the quarter to $561.8 million. Second-quarter operating margins increased to 14.5% from 14.2% in Q2 2015. Overall revenue grew 3.4% to $3.9 billion in the second quarter.
Omnicom’s advertising group registered growth of 7.7% in the quarter to $2.1 billion, and specialty communications was up 4.4% organically to $290.6 million. Its CRM segment was down 2.7% organically in the quarter to $1.2 billion.
Broken down regionally, the holding company reported 3.2% organic growth in North America, where it does 60% of its business, to $2.3 billion. U.K. revenue was up 3.3% organically to $363.7 million, while other European markets increased 4.3% to $630.1 million. Revenue in Asia-Pacific markets grew 4.5% to $400.2 million, while it was up 1.7% in Latin America. Revenue from Africa and the Middle East was down 1.2% to $62.3 million.
