Publicis Ponders Acquisitions

French-based advertising company Publicis Groupe is feeling acquisitive, according to remarks made to Dow Jones Newswires at Cannes last week by CEO Maurice Levy. Market research companies may be targets.

Rumours of plans to buy began when Publicis last week placed OCEANE convertible bonds for a total of Euros 719 million, although Levy explained this chiefly as a measure to assure the company's liquidity: Publicis is expecting better Q2 2009 results than some rivals but the sector remains tough. Levy said the company would take large acquisition opportunities in digital and emerging markets, 'if it found the right target'. Asked about market research, he replied: 'It is an area that merits a real reflection but we are not yet in the stage to really think about it.'

Publicis posted a 4.4% organic revenue decline in the first quarter, against falls of 5.8% for WPP, 8.4% for Havas SA and 11.6% for Aegis Group. WPP's acquisition of TNS last year made it the second largest MR group in the world behind Nielsen.

In other remarks, Levy said he expected the advertising market to bottom out at the end of August 2009 at the latest; that global ad spending will drop about 8% this year; and that double-digit growth rates for digital will continue until it represents about 15% of total advertising investments in 2012 or 2013, versus about 10% today.

Web sites: www.publicisgroupe.com and www.djnewswires.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.