Shares in the company fell by 6.9% to €3.21, a fall of €0.24, taking it below the company's previous 52-week low of €3.22, recorded last September. This morning, Havas said that revenues for 2002 had fallen by 5.8% to £1.32bn, with revenues from traditional advertising falling by 6.6% to £502.2m.
While Havas is not due to post its full results for 2002 until March 6, analysts are still disappointed with the revenue figure. They had been expecting around £1.37bn.
Havas had performed well in terms of winning new business during the past 12 months, but its advertising revenues, especially in its strongest market of Europe, were down. During the last quarter of the year, revenue fell 11.5% in Europe.
Although chairman and CEO Alain de Pouzilhac said that the company expected profitability to rebound in 2001, the market sees little to be cheerful about in Havas' performance.
After the results were released, de Pouzilhac said that the advertising market would contract if there is a war in Iraq, with zero growth in advertising the best case scenario in 2003.
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