Publicis confirms guidance on strong first quarter

(Sharecast News) - Advertising giant Publicis Groupe reaffirmed its full-year outlook on Tuesday despite a "volatile" macroeconomic backdrop, following a bumper first quarter. Net revenues at the French firm grew by 4.5% in the three months to March end to €3.46bn, with growth seen across all key regions. Net revenues in the US, its largest region, rose 4.7% to $2.15bn. In Europe they were 3.9% higher at €837m, and up 5.9% at €286m in Asia-Pacific.

Artificial intelligence-powered marketing services, representing 86% of total net revenues, continued to perform well, Publicis noted, on the back of robust client demand. Further supporting first-quarter growth was the acquisitions of sports marketing agency 160over90 and content measurement platform AdgeAI.

As a result, Publicis confirmed it remained on track to meet full-year guidance, for net organic revenue growth of between 4% and 5%, and a "slight" operating margin improvement on 2025's 18.2%.

Arthur Sadoun, chief executive, said: "Publicis had a very strong start to the year, outperforming the industry for almost 20 quarters in a row, despite the volatile macro environment.

"At a time when our industry has seen more changes in the last 12 months than the last 12 years, we are confident that we will outperform again in 2026 and beyond."

The Paris-listed stock was up 1% as at 0945 BST.