• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, February 12, 2015

Havas reported Thursday that it had a 5.2% full-year 2014 revenue gain to 1.865 billion euros (approximately $2.126 billion at today’s exchange rate) and organic growth for the year of 5.1%. Fourth quarter organic growth was somewhat lower than the full-year average, coming in at 3.5%.

By comparison, Omnicom -- reporting earlier this week -- said it posted 5.7% organic growth for the full year (off a revenue base of $15.3 billion) and 5.9% for the fourth quarter. And Publicis, reporting earlier today, said it had 2% growth for the full year and 3.2% Q4 organic growth.

Havas’ 2014 organic growth improved significantly compared to the prior year. For 2013, the firm reported just 1% organic growth for the full year and 1.6% for Q4.

Yannick Bollore, chairman and CEO, Havas, characterized 2014 as a “very robust year for the Havas Group.”  He said the performance was attributable to trusting clients, talented staff and “the excellent level of new business maintained throughout the year, thanks to wins such as Paypal, Century Link, Disney,” among others.

Havas, Bollore added, “enjoys a positive momentum which allows us to approach the start of 2015 with every confidence.”

In North America, the company posted a solid 7.3% organic growth in Q4 and 5.4% growth for the full year. The company pointed to a number of big account wins that drove growth in the region including Dish Network, Dove Mencare, LVMH, Liberty Mutual and others.  “All disciplines played their part in this performance and certain agencies such as Havas Worldwide New York and Chicago and Havas Media North America, posted double-digit growth,” the firm said.

For the year group-wide net new business totaled 2.246 billion euros ($2.561 billion) with 550 million euros ($627 million) in new business coming in Q4.

Full year organic growth in Latin America came in at 5.2%, while the comparable figure for the Asia-Pacific and Africa regions combined was 10.8%, the company reported.

The company will report full financials for the year and quarter (profits, margins etc) later. 

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