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| John Wren |
Omnicom’s PR group suffered a 15.3 percent drop in Q2 revenues to $295.8M as the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on its travel, lodging, entertainment, energy, retail and automotive clients. Organic growth slipped 13.9 percent.
The FleishmanHillard, Porter Novelli, Ketchum, Mercury, Portland, Cone and Marina Maher Communications operation posted $627.5M first-half revenues, which was down 8.2 percent on a reported basis and 7.0 percent organically.
Healthcare, technology, telecommunications, financial services and consumer products spending held up “relatively well,” though conditions are volatile and economic uncertainty cuts across all clients, industries and geographies,” according to Omnicom’s financial report.
CEO John Wren expects demand for his firm’s services will decline “as marketers reduce expenditures in the short term due to the uncertain impact of the pandemic on the global economy.”
Omnicom has realigned agencies’ cost structures via layoffs, furloughs, right-of-use asset impairments and other real estate costs, and disinvestments.
Those actions “were taken to tailor their services and capabilities to changes in client demand.”
Overall, Omnicom registered a $24.2M Q2 loss, compared to a $370.7M year-ago profit, as revenues tumbled 24.7 percent to $2.8B.
The company earned $234M for the six-month period, down 63.1 percent from last year’s period.
WPP chief Cindy Rose is cutting up to 1,000 jobs by the end of the year, adding to the 11K jobs lost since the start of 2025, according to a report in the Financial Times.
WPP CEO Cindy Rose declares her stabilization plan is "firmly on track" as the company reports a 4.7 percent dip in 1H revenues.
FTI Consulting reported a 2.6 percent drop in Q2 strategic communications revenues to $100M, a shortfall largely due to a $7.4M decline in pass-through revenues.
Omnicom CEO John Wren reported a 7.2 percent rise in Q2 “core operations” to $6B and a 6.1 percent spurt on an organic basis.
Publicis Groupe’s H1 net revenues inched ahead by 1.1 percent to $8.3B. Organic growth hit the 4.7 percent mark.
