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Omnicom, one of the world’s largest marketing consultancies, closed the books on its fiscal second quarter with $3.85 billion in revenue. 

The firm, which owns dozens of marketing and PR agencies worldwide, boosted its sales by $243.9 million during the three months ended June. That represents year-over-year growth of 6.8%.

Organic growth, which excludes the revenue increases delivered by newly acquired business units, climbed 5.2%. Adjusted acquisition growth rose 2.6% in the same period. Omnicom attributed its momentum in the latter area primarily to its 2023 purchase of Flywheel Digital, a UK-based provider of e-commerce marketing services. Flywheel Digital helps merchants promote their products across online marketplaces such Amazon and Walmart’s digital storefront.

Broken down by business line, Omnicom’s experiential marketing unit was the star performer during the second quarter with growth of 17.6%. In other words, the division increased its top line about three times as fast as Omnicom as a whole, which is a notable achievement. Omnicom’s experiential marketing unit works with brands to organize customer events and build pop-up stores.

Omnicom’s fastest-growing market was Latin America, where its revenue grew by no less than 24.5% during the quarter. For comparison, clients in Europe spent 4.5% more with the firm while the cumulative value of U.S. deals rose 6.3%.

Omnicom spent heavily to achieve its second quarter revenue gains. The company’s salary and service costs increased by $182.3 million, or 7%, year-over-year. The additional expenditures left their mark on Omnicom’s bottom line: the firm’s operating profit decreased by 7.3% to $510.3 million. On an adjusted basis, however, the company managed to grow both its EBITA and EPS.

Omnicom executives hinted that investing in growth initiatives will remain a priority for the company going forward. That means the elevated spending levels it posted for the second quarter could continue into the rest of the fiscal year. CEO John Wren said in prepared remarks that “to serve our clients with the best, most advanced capabilities, we continue to strategically align our agencies and invest in robust data and technology, scaled content and production, e-commerce, and retail and performance media – all embedded in our industry-leading Omni platform.”

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