Stronger-than-expected growth in advertising and media in the Americas and UK has enabled the holding company to beat Wall Street forecasts.
Omnicom has reported 5.2 per cent organic growth to $3.85 billion (A$5.75 billion) to beat market expectations in the second quarter of 2024. Revenue for the first half of the year was up 6.2 per cent.
The parent company of OMD, PHD, DDB, Ketchum and FleishmanHillard, reported strong 7.8 per cent year-on-year growth in its media and advertising division – the lion’s share of its business – although growth was not consistent across different parts of the world.
Experiential continues to recover from Covid lockdowns, growing 17.6 per cent, while other divisions reported much more muted results with Healthcare up two per cent, Precision Marketing growing 1.4 per cent and Public Relations up 0.9 per cent. There was a decline of 3.7 per cent for Omnicom’s branding and retail commerce division.
Leading the charge are Latin America (up 24.5 per cent), the Middle East and Africa (eight per cent), the UK (6.9 per cent), US (6.3 per cent) and Europe (4.5 per cent).
It was a different story for Asia Pacific, which reported growth of 0.1 per cent.
Omnicom’s salary and services costs increased by seven per cent to $182 million, which it said was due to the acquisition of Flywheel Digital. Adjusted earnings before tax (EBITA) grew by 5.5 per cent.
“Our 5.2% organic growth in the second quarter drove solid growth in adjusted EBITA & EPS, with good performance in our larger markets and disciplines,” Omnicom chair and CEO John Wren.
“With the rapid adoption of Gen AI, creativity and talent matter more than ever to address the breadth and complexity of consumers. To serve our clients with the best, most advanced capabilities, we continue to strategically align our agencies and invest in robust data and technology, scaled content and production, e-commerce, and retail and performance media – all embedded in our industry-leading Omni platform.”
