He made the comments in a conference call following the release of Publicis third-quarter results, showing that organic growth dropped back to 2.6% for the period. Last year's third-quarter organic growth rate was 6.2% and Publicis blamed the fall on the winding down of some accounts and the cancellation of campaigns during summer.
Publicis said that it was still on track to meet 2006 targets and that it would step up its programme of acquisitions.
However, it seems that this is unlikely to include Aegis, at least not while Vincent Bollore, chairman of rival French ad group Havas, owns a 29% stake in the company.
Levy said: "Aegis is clearly an acquisition in which we have shown interest. We started negotiations and we have withdrawn from the process last year because of the position of Bollore.
"As long as Bollore remains a strong holder there is no reason for us to change our position, so we are not looking at Aegis today. It is very clear."
Bollore recently dealt a public blow to Levy by revealing he was backing a start-up ad agency being founded by three Publicis executives.
Publicis yesterday poached two senior staff from Omnicom-owned TBWA\Paris to head Publicis Conseil.
The third-quarter results showed a strong performance in new business for the Publicis Group, which owns Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, ZenithOptimedia and Starcom MediaVest.
It picked up accounts including US retail giant JC Penney, the worldwide SonyEricsson account and an extension of its Citibank work.
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