However, it was bad news for Havas' UK operations, with a negative organic growth of -1.9% to €52m. All other markets showed an improvement, except North America, which was down by 0.9% to €135m. Excluding France and the UK, Europe was up by 11.1% to €57m, while France was up 1.1% to €62m.
The company said it was confident of a strong improvement in profits for the year, after strong new-business wins over the first nine months and as the reorganisation of the company takes effect.
Despite the positive results, Havas' future remains uncertain following the failure of its attempt to take over Grey Global Group and the subsequent acquisition of more than 20% of its stock by French corporate raider Vincent Bollore.
Bollore is yet to make clear his intentions regarding his stake in Havas, but he has a reputation for buying up companies cheap and breaking them up for sale at a profit. Although he says he has no imminent plans to take over the company, Bollore has already asked for seats on the Havas board.
Havas chairman and CEO Alain de Pouzilhac glossed over any uncertainty at the group to issue a positive statement along with Havas' results this morning.
He said: "I can only be delighted by the acceleration of our growth in the third quarter. It shows that the recovery that began almost one year ago is undisputable.
"With organic growth restored, significantly improved profitability, strong new business and the success of the rights issue, all the fundamentals of Havas are back on track and competitive. We are therefore confident in the group's capacity to achieve positive organic growth and a strong improvement in our profits for the year."
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