Publicis wants to attack Interpublic

The international advertising group Publicis is planning to become the number three in the industry. This was announced by Group CEO Maurice Lévy in an interview with the Financial Times Deutschland. The agency group currently occupies fourth place in the industry with an annual turnover of 4.2 billion euros, but has its sights firmly set on third place. At the top of the podium is currently Omincom, followed by WPP and the US company Interpublic with a turnover of 5 billion euros. Publicis is again expecting an increase in turnover of 5.5 to 6.5 percent this year. Since the takeover of Saatchi & Saatchi and the Leo Burnett Group, Publicis employs around 40,000 people in 104 countries. In terms of profit margins, Publicis currently leads with an operating margin of 15.7 percent, followed by Omnicom with 13 percent. According to Lévy, investments will be made in internal projects and small acquisitions in the near future. Due to the low fees, however, Publicis is also forced to apply the savings brake: With the internal Horizon program, around 70 million francs are to be saved by 2008 - by which time the company also wants to have overtaken its competitor Interpublic.