Publicis Groupe SA: LiveRamp = 1-2% accretion + some optionality

Research evidence excerpt

Publicis Groupe SA: LiveRamp = 1-2% accretion + some optionality

Equity Research

European Media

19 May 2026

Publicis Groupe SA

LiveRamp = 1-2% accretion + some

optionality

Deal is 1-2% accretive when removing already planned PUBP.PA/PUB FP EQUAL WEIGHT

M&A and could enable Publicis to continue to grow 4-5% Unchanged

organically if they get agentic transformation sales. European Media UnchangedNEUTRAL

Conversely, LRamp loss of independence could impact top Price Target EUR 95.00

line. As price paid is reasonable, seems like a sensible deal. Unchanged

Price (15-May-26) EUR 77.10

Potential Upside/Downside +23.2%

Publicis is buying LiveRamp (not covered) for US$2.17bn enterprise value and US$2.55bn Source: Bloomberg, Barclays Research

equity value. This equates to c. 11x 2027E EV/EBITA on consensus data while Publicis

trades on 7x. This also equates to a post-tax return in Year 1 of 6.6%, 1-2% EPS accretion Market Cap (EUR mn) 19607

when removing planned M&A (so not the 3% calculated by Publicis), and should add 30bps Shares Outstanding (mn) 254.31

to organic growth. So if LiveRamp continues to grow top line 9-10%, valuation makes Free Float (%) 87.64

sense to us. In our view, the main opportunities offered by LiveRamp are: (1) generate 52 Wk Avg Daily Volume (mn) 0.6

incremental revenues in new services / help continue to outperform peers; (2) revenue Dividend Yield (%) 4.86

synergies and (3) hide Sapient current low growth. The main risks are: (1) loss of Return on Equity TTM (%) 15.37

independence leads to customer loss (our math shows that 10% less LiveRamp revenues Current BVPS (EUR) 41.60

equate to 1.3% less headline EPS for Publicis); (2) international expansion does not Source: Bloomberg

happen; and (3) most other holding agencies develop similar capabilities.