Havas, owner of Euro RSCG Worldwide, Arnold Worldwide and the Media Planning Group, delivered a promised increase in the margin of earnings before interest and tax, which rose from 3.6% in 2001 to 11.1% in 2002. However, the group cut its dividend to nine cents a share compared with 17 cents in 2001.
Alain de Pouzilhac, chief executive officer, Havas said: "Whether the advertising market, because of the geopolitical and macro-economic situation, remains stable or turns negative, we will pursue the same objectives in 2003: the improvement of our EBIT margin and the improvement of our cashflow."
Revenue for the year was down by 11.3% to €1.99bn, while organic growth slipped by 6.8%. However, Havas said that this was the third-best performance among the major advertising groups for the year. Only Omnicom saw positive organic growth in the year of 2.8%, while Publicis' organic growth fell by 3.9%.
Operating profit for the year was €220m, up 170% from 2001's €81m.
The year saw new-business wins on a global basis from Yahoo!, Reckitt Benckiser, Nestle and Bearing Point, while account losses included the Zest and Bounty brands from Procter & Gamble, Isuzu and Australian financial services company Macquarie Bank.
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