Publicis Groupe hit by economic consequences of COVID-19, but CEO says it can weather the storm

July 23, 2020 8:19

Publicis Groupe is one of the first holding groups to reveal its full financial performance throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing its results for the first half of the calendar year this evening.

It noted organic growth was down 8% for the first six months of 2020, with the second quarter (April to June) hard hit, down 13%. Q2 was particularly difficult for its Europe operations, down 23.5%.

The group said it had entered the COVID-19 crisis with strong fundamentals, and pointed to strong tailwinds in the US and continued new business momentum as positive signs.

Publicis’ key figures for H1 2020 (Click to enlarge)

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Vivienne Kelly

Vivienne Kelly was previously the editor of Mumbrella from 2016 to August 2020.

Topics

financial results Publicis Groupe

4 COMMENTS

Ron 24 Jul 20

How can the DEBT of Publicis go from 73M Euro to 3.2 BILLION EUROS in a single half-year? The debt increased 5,000% in 6 months? What the hell is going on? How did this happen? It’s a disaster yet the report barely mentions it… How can they report anything positive in light of this?

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Vivienne Kelly 24 Jul 20

Hi Ron,

I’m trying to get more information on this, as I also found the number startling.

I will let you know if I get any more information.

Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella

WingWalker 24 Jul 20

I could be wrong, but wouldn’t this just be Publicis Groupe’s acquisition of Epsilon for $3.95bn?

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AH 24 Jul 20

I thought the same thing and went in search of a transcript from the investor briefing –

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/edited-transcript-pubp-pa-earnings-162826337.html