Interpublic outpaces industry, again, in Q3 earnings

Interpublic Group saw net revenue increase 5.4% organically in the third quarter of 2018, year-over-year, to $1.9 billion, "once again outperforming the industry to a significant degree," according to Pivotal Research senior analyst Brian Wieser.

For the US, IPG reported organic net revenue growth of% in Q3, with international organic net revenue up 6%. Organic revenue was up 6.8% in the U.K., with Continental Europe increasing 5.8%, Asia-Pacific up 7.5%, Latin America soaring by 12.4%, and all other markets up 1.6%.

Operating income in the third quarter was $261.7 million. In the first nine months of the year, the company’s organic net revenue jumped 4.9%.

"Positive results are particularly notable in context of an industry working through a range of negative trends impacting the broader industry," Wieser wrote in his report. "To some degree IPG is benefitting from repositioning activities it undertook in the recent past, possibly some cyclical elements (agencies may underperform in some periods and over-perform in others because of momentum-based factors) and possibly some client-specific spending trends as well."

IPG’s Integrated Agency Networks division, made up of creative agencies such as McCann, FCB and MullenLowe Group, reported 5.7% organic revenue growth, year-over-year, in Q3 to $1.5 billion.

Earlier this month, IPG officially closed the deal on its acquisition of Acxiom, a deal that holding company CEO Michael Roth sees as a game-changer for the network.

"As all companies look to make their first party data work harder for them, and do so in an increasingly regulated and secure environment, Acxiom is considered the premiere provider of these services," he said on the earnings call Friday morning.