Publicis Groupe fights back in face of industry shifts and scale of digital transformation

Publicis Groupe has posted its financial report for 2017, with the French advertising firm notching annual revenues of $9.7bn.

The figure represents only a 0.4% drop from 2016, with the company recognising this as a reasonable result against the backdrop of harsh changes in the media industry.

Back in October, Publicis Groupe revealed three major initiatives to drive its digital transformation but while it's still in the early stages of their roll-out, it managed to achieve 0.8% organic growth.

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"Despite a generally difficult context and the Groupe being in the midst of its own transformation, the quality of our results demonstrates Publicis Groupe’s strength," commented Chairman and CEO Arthur Sadoun.

"It also shows our ability to adapt to the deep changes affecting our industry. The Groupe is stronger than it was a year ago."

A breakdown of the figures revealed that the group's biggest region of growth over the course of the 12-month period was Latin America (4.8%), followed closely by the Middle East and Africa (4.4%). Growth in its home continent was at 1.3%.

Publicis Groupe was founded in 1926 and is the third largest communications group in the world, operating in over 100 countries and with 80,000 workers.