(Adds details, background)
PARIS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Advertising group Publicis pledged on Thursday to grow revenue faster than rivalsand expand margins in a four-year plan building on its $3.7billion acquisition of digital specialist Sapient.
Helped by Sapient's strength in e-commerce and technologyservices, the French group said it would target organic revenuegrowth 2 percentage points above the industry average, startingin 2016. It also aims to raise the operating margin by 2 to 4percentage points from its 2012 pro-forma level of 15.3 percent,with Sapient taken into account.
Publicis Chief Executive Maurice Levy is trying to win backinvestor support after a tough year in which a mega-merger withU.S. peer Omnicom fell apart and the company's growthlagged behind competitors.
Publicis shares are down 11 percent this year, while largerrival WPP is about 2 percent lower and U.S.-basedOmnicom and Interpublic are up 5 and 16 percentrespectively.
The four-year plan unveiled on Thursday would increaseshareholder returns, raising the dividend payout ratio from 35percent in 2015 to 42 percent in 2018. The early repayment ofconvertible bonds will also return 700-800 million euros($861-$984 million) to investors, the company said.($1 = 0.8127 euros) (Reporting by Leila Abboud and Gwenaelle Barzic; Editing byLaurence Frost)