Publicis on Wednesday said a "weak performance" in North American PR took a bite out of its 4.5% third quarter revenue growth in the region of 825M euro.

Overall, the Paris-based marketing conglomerate reported Q3 global revenue of nearly 1.7B euro, up 3% (3.5% organically).

Chairman and CEO Maurice Levy said the quarter met internal forecasts despite uncertainty in war-torn Syria and 2014 World Cup host Brazil, as Europe posted "moderate" growth (.4%) for the first time in 2013. Levy said the Omnicom merger is "going to plan" amid the "arduous task" of seeking regulatory approvals around the globe.

Publicis PR units include MSLGroup and Kekst and Company.

Gross debt as of Q3 was 986M euro. Levy said "net debt" increased from 524M to 550M euro on its LBI acquisition and buyout of Denstu shares.