Publicis lifts guidance on strong third quarter

(Sharecast News) - French media giant Publicis Groupe raised its full-year sales guidance on Tuesday, after strong demand for artificial intelligence boosted third-quarter sales. In a brief update, the Paris-based advertising and marketing specialist posted third-quarter organic revenue growth of 5.7%, to €3.5bn, ahead of expectations.

Organic growth across the entire first half was 5.4%.

In Europe, sales rose 2.8%, but jumped 7.1% in the US and 6.5% in Asia Pacific, helped by market share gains in China.

As a result, Publicis upgraded its full-year guidance for organic growth to between 5% and 5.5%, up from between 4% and 5% initially.

The upgrade was attributed to "accelerating demand" for Publicis' AI-powered products and services, alongside no significant budget cuts or slowdown in client spending.

Chief executive Arthur Sadoun said: "With no slowdown in client demand, the third quarter was another very strong quarter.

"We are demonstrating that artificial intelligence at Publicis is not a future promise, it is a reality today is driving our growth."

Publicis appears an outlier in the sector, with rivals grappling with a slowdown in client spend, amid mounting macroeconomic uncertainty, and the impact of AI.

Shares in Publicis were off just over 1% as at 1430 BST.