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By Leila Abboud and Gwénaëlle Barzic
PARIS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - France's Publicis promised business would pick up in the second half of this yearas the advertising agency recovered from a tough 2014 marred bya failed mega-merger with U.S. peer Omnicom.
It also posted fourth-quarter organic sales growth of 3.2percent on revenue of 2.15 billion euro, helped by a rebound inemerging markets like Brazil and China, as well as better demandfrom advertisers across all sectors from cars to consumer goods.
The strong finish brought annual organic sales growth to 2percent on revenue of 7.26 billion euro, slightly ahead ofanalyst expectations.
Publicis Chief Executive Maurice Levy is trying to win backinvestor support after the agency's growth lagged behindcompetitors in recent quarters because of the fallout from thefailed Omnicom deal. The shares have risen nearly 13 percentthis year to close at 67.05 euro on Wednesday, after falling 10percent last year.
Key to the promised recovery is building on the $3.7 billionacquisition of digital ad specialist Sapient, which wascompleted last week.
Levy said Publicis was already hard at work on theintegration and would soon benefit from the added strength ofSapient in on-line ads and consulting.
"Around the end of this year, we will begin out-performingour rivals again," he said at a press briefing.
Levy added that he expected Publicis to grow faster than the3 to 3.5 percent sales growth forecasted for the advertisingagencies globally.
Publicis, which is the third-largest global advertisingholding company after WPP and Omnicom, plans to pay adividend of 1.20 euro per share, up from 1.10 euro in 2013.
Its 2014 operating profit fell 4.8 percent to 1.07 billioneuro, while profit slipped 9.1 percent to 720 million eurosbecause of a 72 million euro impairment charge related tounderperformance at agencies MSL and BBH.
Asked about the prospects for the global economy, Levysounded upbeat despite the brewing standoff between Greece andthe European Union over its debt and the war in the Ukraine.
"At the end of last year we did not see major advertiserscutting back their marketing budgets so I think the results ofmajor multinationals during this reporting season will bestrong," he said.
"Business leaders in Europe are relatively calm about Greeceand believe that a solution will be found. They are more focusedon the tentative signs of a growth recovery in the region."
But the real motor of global economic activity this yearwill remain the United States, the veteran CEO said.
"The U.S. is setting the rhythm with solid growth rates andlower unemployment, and this should benefit us since about halfour business is there."
Omnicom on Tuesday nevertheless issued a cautious forecastfor organic growth this year of about 3.5 percent, slowing from5.7 percent last year, saying the stronger dollar would dentprofitability.
WPP is set to publish results on March 9, and smaller agencyHavas publishes annual sales on Thursday.
(Editing by Andrew Callus)
