SURESNES CEDEX, FRANCE--(Marketwire - Apr 24, 2012) -

 P R E S S R E L E A S E Puteaux, 24(th) April, 2012 1(st) quarter 2012: revenue growth continues Unadjusted Growth +7.2% Organic Growth +3.5% 

* Q1 2012 revenue: EUR387 million, up from EUR361 million in Q1 2011, an increase of 7.2%

* Growth at constant exchange rates: 5.3%

* Organic growth excluding variations in exchange rates and scope of consolidation: 3.5%

* Net New Business(1) robust: EUR605 million, compared with EUR384 million for Q1 2011

David Jones, Global CEO Havas, said "The Group achieved good growth in the first quarter of 2012, despite a high comparative benchmark. A particular highlight was the strong performance in France given what remains an uncertain economic environment in Europe. North America continued its performance in line with the 4(th) quarter of 2011 and the very strong growth in the emerging markets was maintained with double digit growth in Asia Pacific and Latin America. All disciplines contributed to our performance including a continued acceleration in digital. These results are an endorsement of the relevance of our business model, based on putting digital at the core of all our activities."

 1. KEY FIGURES See table in press release attached 

2. GENERAL COMMENTS

Consolidated Group revenue for the 1(st) quarter of 2012 was EUR387 million compared with EUR361 million for Q1 2011, an increase of +7.2% on an unadjusted basis.

Organic growth in Q1 2012 was +3.5%, compared with +6.8% for the same period in 2011.

The Euro weakened against both the US dollar and GB pound by comparison with the same period in 2011, resulting in a positive exchange rate impact on revenue of close to EUR7 million.

The Group's key performance indicators in Q1 2012 were in line with our plan.

Highlights by region:

Europe:

France reported organic growth of +5.1% for Q1 2012, a strong performance, especially in view of the high baseline set by the same period in 2011. The media businesses and advertising were the main growth drivers.

In the UK, growth slowed fractionally (-0.2%) due to a temporary slowdown in marketing services activities.

Performance in the Rest of Europe was adversely affected by Spain and Portugal, in both media and advertising, but the other countries, Germany and Italy in particular, posted highly satisfactory growth.

North America:

With +3.6% growth for Q1 2012, North America continued to perform well despite an unfavorable comparative baseline. All the businesses contributed to growth, with digital, healthcare communication and media particularly strong.

Rest of world:

Asia-Pacific maintained its excellent progress with growth of 12.2%, driven by strong performances from all the region's businesses and countries.

Latin America continues to post double-digit growth thanks to sustained strong performances across the region, especially in Mexico and Argentina, and in the digital and media businesses.

3. NET NEW BUSINESS(1)

The momentum of new business wins continued apace in Q1 2012 with net new business(1) of EUR605 million.

The most significant wins in Q1 2012 include:

Havas Worldwide:

Ambank: Euro RSCG Malaysia appointed agency of record

Atlantic City: Euro RSCG New York appointed agency of record

Banesto: Euro RSCG Spain won digital business

BBVA: Euro RSCG Colombia won social media account

Burger King: Cake UK chosen as consumer agency in UK and Ireland

Carlsberg: Euro RSCG APAC won digital activation pitch. A cross-market integrated team from Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong will lead the business, responsible for brand management and development of the customer journey across multiple channels. The scope of the business covers ATL advertising, digital, SoMe, PR, and activation.

Claire's Accessories: Euro RSCG Chicago won the global account

DHL: Euro RSCG Mexico won DHL's advertising business.

eHarmony: won by Euro RSCG Brazil

EON: EHS 4D won the relational marketing account for EON

Expedia: Euro RSCG 4D Matrix won the Search operations

Grupo Vitro: Euro RSCG Mexico won the integrated communications account for Vitro

Häagen Dazs: Euro RSCG Middle East won the Häagen Dazs regional PR account

Haribo: Euro RSCG Moscow won digital and experiential duties for Haribo

HBO: Cake UK won the advertising campaign for the DVD release of the Game of Thrones series

Ideal Standard: Euro RSCG London chosen to manage pan-European advertising

Idesa: Euro RSCG Middle East won the PR business

Kraft: Euro RSCG Milan won digital and social media duties for Fonzies brand and Hag and Sottilette brands for digital

La Roche-Posay: Euro RSCG BETC 4D won digital business

Lycra: Euro RSCG San Francisco appointed global agency of record

Nokia: Euro RSCG appointed to handle Nokia digital India

Pekao Bank: Euro RSCG Warsaw appointed agency of record

Peugeot: Euro RSCG Malaysia appointed to develop the regional launch campaign for a new auto model and Euro RSCG Prague won a launch event for Peugeot

Sony Playstation: Euro RSCG Chicago won Americas PlayStation Network and PS+ email, digital, social, mobile and experiential business

Superbock: Euro RSCG Lisbon won the advertising, digital, packaging, point of sale and events activities for Superbock beer

Telefonica: Euro RSCG Prague appointed to BTL advertising

Thomas Cook: Euro RSCG London won the advertising account

Yili: Euro RSCG China appointed agency of record for six Yili dairy brands

Havas Media:

Atlantic City Alliance: MPG Media Contacts USA

Adeslas Segurcaixa: MPG Media Contacts Spain

Bavaria: Arena Colombia

Burger King: Havas Sports & Entertainment/Cake UK

Carnival Cruises: MPG Media Contacts UK

Cencosud: Arena Argentina

Center for Disease Control and Prevention: MPG Media Contacts USA

Ceresita: MPG Chile

Dyson: MPG Media Contacts Spain

Edun: MPG Media Contacts USA

Evo/NovaCaixaGalicia: MPG Media Contacts Spain

Freixenet: MPG Germany

Grefusa: MPG Spain

Nölke/Gutfried: MPG Germany

Hawaianas: Havas Media International (Etudes)

Huawei: MPG Germany at pan-European level

Hyundai: MPG China

Lansay: Havas Media France

Lierac/Ales Groupe: Havas Media France

Mundo Fox: MPG Media Contacts USA

Naranya: iGlue Brazil

Nature Bounty: MPG Media Contacts USA

Odesur Juegos Sudamericanos Santiago 2014: Havas Sports & Entertainment Chile

Parle: MPG India

Perfume Holding: Havas Media International Global

Penguin: MPG Media Contacts UK

Pokerstars: MPG Media Contacts Spain

Puig/Paco Rabanne: Havas Sports & Entertainment/Cake Paris

Reckitt Benckiser: MPG Austria and Switzerland

Relais & Chateaux: Havas Media International Europe

Roland Garros: Havas Sports & Entertainment France and Havas Sports & Entertainment China

Santander: Arena Media Chile and Spain

Sony: Havas Sports & Entertainment Miami

StriVectin: Havas Sports & Entertainment/Cake USA

Grupo Vips: MPG Media Contacts Spain

Whirlpool: Havas Media International Miami

4. AWARDS

During the first quarter of 2012, Group agencies received awards at numerous international and national advertising festivals. Chief amongst them were:

The Mobius International Festival awarded BETC a Best of Show for Canal+ (Borgia) plus another four Mobius awards for Canal+ in the online, television, photography and outdoor categories, and yet another Mobius for its "Baby Inside" campaign for Evian.

Fuel Lisbon took a Best of Show and a Mobius in print pour "Mugshots" for Amnesty International, and Euro RSCG New York also took a Best of Show in television for Reckitt Benckiser/Woolite. Other Mobius winners were Euro RSCG Bangkok for Reckitt Benckiser/Shieldtox Naturgard, Euro RSCG Düsseldorf for "Fundraising for Japan" and Nohair Laser, and Arnold Boston for Truth et Jack Daniel's.

At the Bulldog Digital/Social PR awards, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR scooped a total of four awards: Gold for the Money Watch campaign, another Gold for Consumer Electronics, a Silver for Kmart and a Bronze pour "The French Will Never Forget 9/11".

At the Top Com Corporate Business awards, Euro RSCG C&O took Gold for the French Air Force and Silver for Banque Populaire; Havas Event won Gold for Orange; W&Cie took two Gold awards for EADS and Caisse des Dépôts and a Silver for Axa, while BETC won Gold for La Poste.

At the Zlata Pecka (Golden Stones) Awards, Euro RSCG Prague won two Gold awards in television and outdoor for the National Museum and Amnesty International respectively, plus three other awards in media, print and radio. Euro RSCG Prague also carried off three Silver and five Bronze Louskacek awards.

AIS London took Silver for CoppaFeel! and Arnold Boston a Bronze for Jack Daniel's at the John Caples International Awards.

BETC's film L'Ours for Canal+ was one of the 10 winners of the TED - Ads Worth Spreading challenge.

At the ADC Swiss awards, Euro RSCG Zürich was awarded Silver for the Zürich Chamber Orchestra and two Bronze awards for Laserpraxis and Volvo.

Havas Tunisia was awarded at the MENA Cristal Mena Festival and took a Silver at the Dubai Lynx awards for "Catch Me if You Can" for Protek.

In Uruguay, Desachate awarded Euro RSCG Gurisa a Gold, two Silver and two Bronze awards.

At the A.W.A.R.D. (Asia-Pacific), Euro RSCG Bangkok took two Silver and two Bronze awards for Reckitt Benckiser/Naturgard, with Arnold Furnace taking two Bronze awards for Huawei Technologies and Host a Bronze for Vodafone Hutchison Australia.

Euro RSCG Chicago took three prizes at the IAC Awards for Pucker Vodka and Sprint; Euro RSCG C&O won an award for its online greetings card and Euro RSCG Amsterdam another for the 'Citroën DS5 Twitterrace'.

At the Travel Marketing Awards, MPG Media Contacts won Silver for its client East Coast. MPG Mexico was named Agency of the Year for the second year running by Merca2.0 magazine.

The Holmes Report named Cake Group Agency of the Year, Euro RSCG 4D Lisbon was named Digital Agency of the Year by ACEPI and Euro RSCG Prague runner-up Agency of the Year by AKA.

At the PR Week Awards, Euro RSCG Worldwide PR won the Multicultural Marketing Campaign of the Year for its client, Transitions Optical.

At the Campaign Asia Pacific PR Awards, Euro RSCG Sydney was acclaimed Product Brand Development Campaign of the Year for 'Sponsor the White House' for Reckitt-Benckiser/Vanish.

5. CALENDAR

The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders will be held on May 10, 2012 at 10 a.m. at the Group's new headquarters in Puteaux.

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, Havas Worldwide and Havas Media, in order to optimize synergies and further reinforce Havas' position as the most integrated of all of the major holding companies. Havas Worldwide incorporates the Euro RSCG Worldwide network (233 offices in 75 countries, including the Euro RSCG, Euro RSCG Life, Euro RSCG 4D and Euro RSCG WW PR brands), the Arnold micronetwork (16 agencies in 15 countries on 5 continents) as well as other agencies with strong local identities.

Havas Media operates in over 100 countries and incorporates the MPG, Arena Media, 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 15,000 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 AMF (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 translates 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.

Other definitions:

Organic growth is calculated by comparing revenue for the current financial period against revenue for the previous financial period adjusted as follows:

- revenue for the previous financial period is recalculated using the exchange rates for the current financial period;

- to this resulting revenue is added the revenue of companies acquired between January 1 of the previous financial period and the acquisition date for the period in which these companies were not as yet consolidated;

- revenue for the previous financial period is also adjusted for the consolidated revenue of companies disposed of or closed down between January 1 of the previous financial period and the date of disposal or closure. Organic growth calculated by this method is therefore adjusted for variations in exchange rate against the euro, and for variations in the scope of consolidation.

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Press release: [ http://hugin.info/143438/R/1605266/508313.pdf ]

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Source: HAVAS via Thomson Reuters ONE [HUG#1605266]