They said platforms would eat us for breakfast. Instead, we doubled our market cap: Publicis CEO

New Delhi: Publicis Groupe has raised its full-year organic growth forecast after posting better-than-expected Q2 FY2025 results. CEO Arthur Sadoun dismissed concerns over Meta’s AI-driven ad tools and said clients continue to prefer independent and transparent marketing solutions.

“I’ve been hearing that the platforms will eat us for breakfast for a decade. Since then, we have doubled our revenue and market cap,” said Arthur Sadoun, CEO of Publicis Groupe, during the company’s Q2 FY2025 earnings call. 

“However good the platform is and could deliver end-to-end solutions, they are completely underestimating the intelligence of our customers. While clients need a good tech platform, they also need a partner like us to help them connect the entire ecosystem and help them grow in this very complex AI-driven world.”

Sadoun added, “This is about making sure they own their data and don’t take it to the walled garden. It is about the connected ecosystem. It is about making sure we, as a partner, preserve their brand value. AI is great, but AI has no taste. It doesn’t know what value to bring to the consumer. In a platform world, you measure within the platform. With a platform like ours, you measure transparently.”

Publicis Groupe on Thursday announced strong second-quarter and first-half financial results for fiscal 2025, leading the company to raise its full-year organic growth forecast. The performance was driven by strong client demand, continued momentum across all regions, and significant wins across key accounts.

Backed by major client wins and strong regional performance, Publicis Groupe posted Q2 net revenue of €3.62 billion, marking a 5.9% organic growth, well above analyst expectations of 4.6%. Total revenue for the quarter rose 10% year-on-year.

For H1 FY2025, net revenue stood at €7.15 billion, up 6.9% from €6.69 billion in H1 2024, with 5.4% organic growth.

The company attributed its performance to €5.2 billion in net new business billings, with client additions including Coca-Cola, Mars, Nespresso, Lego, Paramount, Spotify, Santander, Rocket, Sky, LinkedIn, Subway, Goodyear, and Cadillac.

Sadoun credited the company’s decade-long $12 billion digital transformation and proprietary AI capabilities for enabling personalised marketing at scale. 

He emphasised Publicis’ platform-agnostic strategy, citing its ability to deliver transparency and flexibility across ecosystems as a competitive edge.

Regional highlights

• North America: Contributed 60.6% to group activity; Q2 organic growth at 5.8%, with the US at 5.3%.
  
  
• Europe: Delivered 4.6% organic growth, with France at 5.2% and the UK at 3.2%.
  
  
• Asia-Pacific: Registered 5.7% growth; China at 5.2% despite macroeconomic concerns.
  
  
• Middle East & Africa: Outperformed with 7.7% growth, driven by media and creative mandates.
  
  
• Latin America: Led with 8.3% growth, spearheaded by Brazil.
  
  

Media, powered by the Epsilon data platform, contributed 60% to group growth, while creative and digital services (including Publicis Sapient) also performed strongly.

Strategic acquisitions and future investments

In H1 2025, Publicis completed 12 acquisitions, including Mars, Influential, BR Media, Lotame, Captiv8, Atomic 212, Adopt, Dysrupt, Moov AI, BRW, Downtown Paris, and 3Dids. It invested €300 million in these deals, with €800 million earmarked for additional acquisitions in 2025 to bolster its data, tech, and creative stack.

Revised outlook for FY2025

Publicis raised its full-year organic growth guidance to ~5%, from the earlier 4–5% range, despite an €80 million currency headwind. It now expects an operating margin slightly above 18% and free cash flow of €1.9 billion.

Sadoun flagged caution for H2, forecasting a softer 4.5% growth due to tougher YoY comparables and potential Q4 budget tightening by clients, especially in the US, amid economic and election-related uncertainties.