Publicis Groupe has announced a robust financial performance for 2023 and remains optimistic about the upcoming year, despite potential macroeconomic hurdles. The company achieved a full-year 2023 net revenue organic growth of +6.3%, surpassing expectations, along with a strong Q4 performance of +5.7%.
In the future, the company anticipates organic growth to range between +4% to +5%, with an operating margin rate of 18%, and free cash flow projected to be between €1.8 and €1.9 billion.
“In a very challenging macroeconomic context, and after 6 years of transformation, Publicis definitely extracted itself from the pack in 2023,” said Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe.
“Our +6.3% net revenue organic growth for the full year, coming after a stronger than expected end to the year at +5.7% in Q4, means that not only are we substantially outperforming our holding company peers, we are also growing twice as fast as the main IT consulting firms.”
Looking ahead Sadoun said: “Entering 2024, we feel confident in sustaining this momentum, just as we’ve done for the last four years with a +4.7% CAGR, twice the industry average. We anticipate delivering +4 to +5% organic growth while maintaining our historically high operating margin at 18%. When it comes to Q1, we expect to significantly outperform the industry with an organic growth within our full year guidance.”
Breakdown of FY 2023 net revenue by region
- Asia Pacific saw its net revenue grow by +2.9% organically and decline by 1.7% on a reported basis. China posted +2.2% organic growth despite difficult macroeconomic conditions throughout the year.
- In North America, net revenue was up +4.9% organically. The region grew +2.3% on a reported basis in 2023, which includes a negative impact of the U.S. dollar to euro exchange rate. The U.S. posted a very solid +5.0% organically, on top of a double-digit growth last year, fueled by Media activities at double-digit. Epsilon saw its net revenue increase by +9.6% organically on the year, with a particularly strong performance in Digital Media. Creative activities were broadly stable on the year. Finally, Publicis Sapient was up +2.5% organically on a strong comparable base, impacted by the delays in DBT projects experienced by all comparable IT consulting firms.
- Net revenue in Europe grew +10.3% on an organic basis (+10.2% reported), including a very strong +10.4% in the United Kingdom, +5.2%1 in France, +7.2% in Germany and +16% in Central and Eastern Europe. Excluding the impact of our Outdoor Media activities and the Drugstore, organic growth was +9.0% in Europe.
- The Middle East and Africa region was up +12.4% organically and +5.8% on a reported basis.
- In Latin America, organic growth was at +8.9%, while reported growth was at +18.0%.
