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HAVAS: HAVAS : Q1 2009 REVENUE

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^{Published in Business and Finance on Friday, May 15th 2009 at 9:22 GMT, Last Modified on 2009-11-03 07:32:40 by Market Wire}  

SURESNES, FRANCE--(Marketwire - May 15, 2009) - Suresnes, 15th May, 2009

PRESS RELEASE

Q1 2009 REVENUE

► Revenue of EUR 325 million, down 6%; Organic growth of -8.4%

► Good resistance in the UK and France

► Net New Business1 stable at EUR 507 million

1. General Comments

Revenue in Q1 2009 totaled EUR 325 million, down 6% from EUR 345 million in Q1 2008.

Organic growth was -8.4%, handicapped by the strong baseline set in Q1 2008 when Havas reported +7.4% growth and outperformed the majority of competitors.

These figures were due to the following sectorial and regional developments:

Reduced spending on the part of our clients in the financial and healthcare sectors (down close to 20% and 11% respectively), particularly in the USA;

Impact of Dell's Asia Pacific account lost in June 2008, an impact that will continue to be felt up to the end of Q2 2009;

The Havas Group's strong position in the southern European markets where advertising expenditure is in decline, thus penalizing our organic growth despite the fact that the Group is constantly improving its market share in these countries.

In the first quarter of 2009, the digital businesses achieved a remarkable +7% organic growth and now account for over 16% of the Group's total revenue.

The major accounts won in the first quarter of 2009 (CBS Films, Telefonica, GSK, Norvartis, DBS Bank, Sprint, Pepe Jeans etc.) have offset the two large advertising accounts lost, namely Carrefour and Radio Shack. Net New Business1 remained strong at EUR 507 million during the first quarter, compared with EUR 510 million in Q1 2008, thus confirming the strong momentum of the Group's sales. These wins will begin to positively impact our figures in the second half of the year.

2. Revenue and Organic growth by region:

 +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ | Revenue (in EUR M) | Q1 | Q1 | | Organic growth (%)| Q1 | Q1 | +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ | 2009 | 2008| | | 2009| 2008| | +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ | EUROPE | 181| 198| | EUROPE| -7.6%| 7.9%| +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ | NORTH AMERICA | 115| 114| | NORTH AMERICA| -9.2%| 6.0%| +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ | REST OF THE WORLD| 29| 33| | REST OF THE WORLD| -12.6%| 11.2%| +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ | of which | | | | of which| | | +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ | Asia Pacific | 14| 17| | Asia Pacific| -24.7%| 22.8%| +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ | Latin America | 15| 16| | Latin America| -2.5%| 4.5%| +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ | TOTAL | 325| 345| | TOTAL| -8.4%| 7.4%| +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ +-------------------+------+-----+-+--------------------+--------+-------+ 

Europe

Good resistance by the UK (-1.6%), the Group's top performance in a reputedly difficult market, thanks to the positive growth achieved by the Havas Media (MPG, BLM, Havas Sports), Euro RSCG KLP, Euro RSCG Life and EHS Brann agencies. Euro RSCG broke into the Top 5 in Campaign's annual rankings and MPG UK had the fastest growth in the market in the media ranking (published February 2009).

In relative terms, the Group's performance in France is better than that of competitors.

Elsewhere in Europe, growth has slowed considerably, notably due to the southern countries and especially Spain and Portugal which have been impacted by the downturn in advertising expenditure.

The central European countries (Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland and Poland) are still posting growth.

North America

Our large integrated and media agencies in the USA (e.g. Euro RSCG New York, Euro RSCG Chicago and Havas Media US) outperformed the market. Others however, have still been affected by the decline of the financial and healthcare sectors.

Rest of the World

Latin America

The media business is still growing in Latin America (driven by Mexico) though advertising is slowing down.

Asia Pacific

This region is still affected by the loss of the Dell account (the downturn would otherwise be 8%).

3. Net New Business1

The most significant accounts won include CBS Films (MPG US), Schering Plough in Brazil (Euro RSCG), China Telecom (Euro RSCG China), Via Rail by Palm+Havas in Canada, Magners Pear Cider and Air France subsidiary CityJet (Euro RSCG London), Aena in Spain (Arena), G+J Emotion in Germany (MPG) and Cie in Mexico (MPG). (See Annex 1 for the list of the main new accounts won).

New Business in Q1 2009 was EUR 507 million, in line with previous years as shown in the table below:

 +------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | YEAR| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | +------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | 2008| 510| 623| 313| 104| +------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | 2007| 545| 697| 256| 29| +------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ +------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ 

4. Calendar

The forthcoming Annual General Meeting of Havas SA shareholders will be held on June 3, 2009 at 9 a.m. at the Havas head office.

ANNEX 1: New Business in Q1 2009

See PDF file.

ANNEX 2: Awards

In the first quarter of 2009, numerous Group agencies received awards at international and regional advertising festivals, including the following main achievements:

Big Won Report (January 2009) ranked BETC Euro RSCG's "The Ad Auction" for eBay No. 4 worldwide in terms of awards received in the Innovative & Alternative Media category in 2008.

At the Mobius Festival, Euro RSCG 4D Amsterdam won the Best of Show online award for Kraft/Carte Noire "A Declaration Named Desire", while seven other prizes went to BETC Euro RSCG, Euro RSCG Duesseldorf and Arnold Boston.

At the Internet Advertising Awards, Euro RSCG Singapore received one award, Euro RSCG 4D Amsterdam received three and Euro RSCG Duesseldorf won a further two.

At the Asia Pacific region's Adfest Festival, Euro RSCG Flagship took a silver award and Euro RSCG Singapore won five silvers, all for Nikon campaigns. The Furnace won two silvers for Skins and Euro RSCG Sydney received a silver award for its Sony campaign.

At the 31st John Caples Awards, AIS took a gold and a silver, and Euro RSCG Sydney received two bronze awards.

At the Dubai Lynx Awards, Euro RSCG Dubai carried off a bronze for its Clearasil site (Reckitt Benckiser).

The latest RECMA report ranked MPG as the 3rd most competitive agency network worldwide and it shows the highest growth in competitive points. In North America and Europe MPG is the 4th most competitive agency and is a leader in LATAM. In Asia RECMA puts MPG as the 10th agency, with highest growth in the region.

About Havas

Havas (Euronext Paris: HAV.PA) is a global advertising and communications services group. Headquartered in Paris, Havas operates through its two Business Units (the term " Business Unit " will from now on replace the term " Division "), Havas Worldwide and Havas Media, in order to optimize synergies and further reinforce Havas's position as the most integrated of all of the major holding companies. Havas Worldwide incorporates the Euro RSCG Worldwide network as well as agencies with strong local identities: Arnold in the USA, the UK and Italy, H and W&Cie in France, Palm+Havas in Canada... Havas Media incorporates the MPG, Arena, Havas Sports & Entertainment and Havas Digital networks. A multicultural and decentralized Group, Havas is present in more than 75 countries through its networks of agencies and contractual affiliations. The Group offers a broad range of communications services, including traditional advertising, direct marketing, media planning and buying, corporate communications, sales promotion, design, human resources, sports marketing, multimedia interactive communications and public relations. Havas employs approximately 14,700 people.

Further information about Havas is available on the company's website: [ www.havas.com ]

Forward-Looking Information

This document contains certain forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date on which they are made. Forward looking statements relate to projections, anticipated events or trends, future plans and strategies, and reflect Havas' current views about future events. They are therefore subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may cause Havas' actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results include changes in the global economic environment or in the business environment, and in factors such as competition and market regulation. For more information regarding risk factors relevant to Havas, please see Havas' filings with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (documents in French) and, up to October 2006, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (documents in English only). Havas does not intend, and disclaims any duty or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this document to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.

(1) : Net New Business

Net new business represents the estimated annual advertising budgets for new business wins (which includes new clients, clients retained after a competitive review, and new product or brand expansions for existing clients) less the estimated annual advertising budgets for lost accounts. Havas' management uses net new business as a measurement of the effectiveness of its client development and retention efforts. Net new business is not an accurate predictor of future revenues, since what constitutes new business or lost business is subject to differing judgments, the amounts associated with individual business wins and losses depend on estimated client budgets, clients may not spend as much as they budget, the timing of budgeted expenditures is uncertain, and the amount of budgeted expenditures that translate into revenues depends on the nature of the expenditures and the applicable fee structures. In addition, Havas' guidelines for determining the amount of new business wins and lost business may differ from those employed by other companies.

This information is provided by HUGIN

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