Dentsu has announced its second quarter FY26 results, revealing that APAC’s (not including Japan) organic growth declined 3.8 per cent.
The Japanese owned holding company expected organic growth to drop in this market by around one per cent. The decline was despite India achieving organic growth. Australia, China and Taiwan all posted a drop.
In Australia, the media arm lost Microsoft, but gained Tabcorp. And on the creative front, Dentsu Creative lost The Iconic account.
Even though organic growth took a slight hit, net revenue in APAC grew by 5.1 per cent to 49,554 million yen – that’s 49,554,000,000 yen in real numbers. In Aussie Peso, it equates to $439 million.
Dentsu put this down to a weaker yen against the Chinese Yuan and other currencies as well as SG&A expenses control, which includes partial realisation of cost savings from the ‘rebuilding’ of the business foundation.
To no surprise, Japan led from the front. The country increased its organic growth by 5 per cent in the six-month period. Dentsu put this down to internet and TV advertising, digital transformation, business transformation and sports and entertainment growth.
On a global front Dentsu’s revenue grew 4.9 per cent to 717,352 million yen and its net revenue was also up 3.7 per cent (583,068 million yen).
It was also revealed with the June quarter results that Dentsu has cut just under 900 jobs in the first half of 2026. This is apart of the headcount reduction program, that has already seen 3,000 of a planned 3,400 job cuts completed.
The holding company has also set a new target to cut global HQ costs by about 30 per cent by the 2028 financial year.
It is looking to achieve this by reducing the number of international entities by 70 to 80 in the current financial year, with another 50 to 80 under consideration in the following financial year.
The number of international entities has already been halved since January 2021, falling from more than 1,000 to current levels by January this year.
