Havas is now a fully integrated part of Vivendi but still provides a useful steer into adland’s fortunes and prospects for the year.
In Q2 2022 its revenues increased 11.5%, up slightlky on a strong first quarter when it delivered 11.4%. Vivendi said: “This excellent half-year operating performance is attributable to the robust commercial momentum built over recent quarters across all three divisions: creative, media and health & wellness.”
“Each region reported strong organic growth for the first half of 2022: Europe +11.7%, North America +7.6%, Asia Pacific +10.7%, and a strong recovery in Latin America +47.7%.”
CEO Yannick Bolloré says: “These strong results give us every encouragement to keep accelerating the pace of our transformation, by simplifying our organisation and pursuing the deeper integration of our networks.” Bolloré said he was “confident” about the second half.
Documents published with the results cast some light on the seemingly mysterious departure of Chris Hirst, the global CEO of Havas Creative. Creative is now being rolled in with health and wellness under health boss Donna Murphy.
Health and wellness clients accounted for a startling 31% of Havas Group’s net revenues with finance (10%) and consumer goods (9%) the next biggest sectors in its client mix.
Murphy says: “This is not health taking over creative; that’s not what’s happening here. It’s leveraging the best of each side where appropriate.”
As with all such moves, it’s best to follow the money.
