(Adds analyst quote)
PARIS, Nov 6 (Reuters) - French advertising agency Havas kept up strong momentum in the third quarter, postingorganic sales growth of 6 percent with gains across all regions.
Finance chief Francois Laroze said he was confident thegroup would achieve full-year growth, on a like-for-like basisand excluding currency fluctations, of more than 4 percent and4.5 to 5.5 percent in the last quarter.
"Another strong set of results by Havas, even if momentum inthe fourth quarter is perceived as weaker, the stock shouldstill react relatively well," predicted Charles Bedouelle,analyst at Exane BNP Paribas.
Third-quarter revenue stood at 447 million euro ($554.7million) with Europe up 9.4 percent, North America 5 percent andAsia 9.5 percent.
Larger rival Publicis managed only 1 percentorganic growth in the same period, but leader WPP posted7.6 percent organic growth.
Havas, which ranks as the world's sixth-biggest advertisinggroup worldwide by revenue, is controlled by Bollore Group via a 36.2 percent stake.
In mid-October, Bollore Group made an offer to acquirecontrol over at least 50 percent of Havas by giving shareholdersthe chance to swap five Havas shares for nine Bollore shares.
The operation will be voted on at a Bollore shareholdermeeting on November 27.
(1 US dollar = 0.8058 euro) (Reporting by Leila Abboud and Gwenaelle Barzic; editing byMark John)
WPP (WPP)
