Omnicom Group worldwide revenue decreased 3.6% to US$3.7 billion in the second quarter of 2019, as organic growth in Asia-Pacific slowed to 1.9%, from 8.5% in the same period last year.
The agency group, which owns global agencies OMD, Hearts and Sciences and PHD, attributed the revenue decrease to "the negative effects of foreign exchange rates and disposition activity in excess of acquisitions over the past year".
When breaking this down, Omnicom said there was a 2.6% fall in revenue because of the "negative impact of foreign currency" and a drop in acquisition revenue.
Organic growth in advertising increased 4.4%, the CRM consumer experience division rose 1.9%, CRM execution and support fell 2.6%, PR was up 1.3% and healthcare was up 8.4%.
Organic growth was highest in Other North America (which excludes the US) at 11.8%, followed by 5.7% for the UK, 3.2% for the US, 1.9% for APAC, and 1.5% for the Euro Markets and Other Europe. Latin America decreased 2.4% and the Middle East and Africa decreased 8.3%.
Operating profit in the second quarter of 2019 decreased $8.6 million, or 1.5%, to $573 million.
Six month global revenue down 4%
Global revenue for the six months ended June 30 decreased 4.0% to US$7.2 billion, while operating profit decreased $1.3 million, or 0.1%, to US$1 billion.
Over the six-month period, organic growth in advertising increased 4.7%, CRM consumer experience increased 0.7%, CRM execution and support decreased 2.9%, public relations decreased 0.9% and healthcare increased 7.6%.
Looking at the regional markets, organic growth was 2.6% in the US, 9.0% for Other North America, 3.5% in the UK, 2.7% in the Euro Markets and Other Europe, 2.0% in Asia Pacific and 2.5% for the Middle East and Africa, while Latin America decreased 2.7%.