By Kevin McCauley
Omnicom reported today that Q1 net inched ahead 1.3 percent to $204.6M as revenues increased five percent to $3.3B.
CEO John Wren told investors “2012 is off to a very good start” as “revenues exceeded our internal forecast.”
The Fleishman-Hillard, Ketchum, Porter Novelli and Marina Maher PR group registered 6.5 percent growth to $306.9M during the quarter.
In his presentation, Wren noted “our PR businesses showed improvement for the first time in several quarters.”
In the “improving but fragile economy,” OMC is focused on costs it can control and continues to build its digital infrastructure.
OMC’s 4.4 percent U.S. organic growth rate was spurred by strong results in brand advertising, media, sports and event marketing offset by a decline in the specialty healthcare business.
The ad/PR conglomerate spent $33.1M for acquisitions in Q1 for Medical Collective Intelligence (Japanese market researcher), Channel 5 Communications (Australian retail marketing agency) and a controlling stake in Moscow-based Fleishman-Hillard Vanguard |