Omnicom Group has reported a slight lift in overall profit which rose 0.6 per cent to US$331.6m overnight, with Asia Pacific revenues the strongest in the group.
Revenues from the region grew 7.9 per cent, outperforming other regions, with the company overall reporting a fall of 1 per cent in total revenue, to US $4.15bn.
On an investor call overnight, CEO John Wren declined to be drawn on the details of the company’s new global network and brand, which it promised to launch after last year’s win of Procter & Gamble, but told investors the new network would allow them to manage more clients.
“We’ll have the capacity to manage more client relationships as well as manage investments we’ve made in media capabilities across our business,” said Wren.
In response to an analyst’s question, Wren replied: “Our platforms for data and analytics are much easier to leverage over geographies than they were in the past.”
In Asia, Omnicom operates OMD, PHD and M2M as its main operating brands. The possibility of a new media agency network launching to handle competing clients emerged three years ago, soon after news of the Publicis Groupe-Omnicom merger emerged.
Omnicom also owns creative agency brands TBWA and DDB, and programmatic firm Accuen.
According to Ad Age, Accuen, the media agency network’s digital buying arm and media trading desk, contributed $45m in revenue globally this quarter alone.
Omnicom’s earnings before interest, taxes, and amortisation (EBITA) for the 12 months to December 31 decreased 1.1 per cent – or US$21.8m – to $2.029bn compared with $2.051bn for the same period in 2014.
