Publicis (PUBP.PA): H1 results highlight upside risk to organic growth in 2027; Buy

Research evidence excerpt

Publicis (PUBP.PA): H1 results highlight upside risk to organic growth in 2027; Buy

Equity Research

16 July 2026 | 7:00PM BST

Publicis (PUBP.PA): H1 results highlight upside risk to organic growth in

2027; Buy

H1 highlights. Q2 revenues were 0.2% ahead of Visible Alpha Consensus driven by a Adam Berlin

+44(20)7051-1586 |

20bps beat on organic growth (in line with GSe); and the company increased the adam.berlin@gs.com

Goldman Sachs International

bottom end of its revenue guide. In its H2 guidance, management assume continued

James Tate

pressure from the Middle East, which impacted the group organic growth by 30bps +44(20)7774-3705 | james.tate@gs.com

in Q2. 1H26 Operating margins were up 17bps yoy, broadly in line with expectations. Goldman Sachs International

Pulkit GubgotraThe 2026 FCF ex-WC guide was increased to c.€2.2bn+ (vs c.€2.1bn previously), +1(332)245-7520 |

although there was a c.€340mn higher outflow from working capital yoy in H1 vs. last pulkit.gubgotra@gs.comGoldman Sachs India SPL

year. Management noted the soft performance in Sapient (down MSD % in Q2) on

the conflict in the Middle East and also the overall decline in IT spend across the

market. They highlighted that Sapient contributes to the wider business

competitiveness by providing data and technology services that enhance their

Connected Media and Intelligent Creativity segments.

2027 looks bright. We see upside to consensus forecasts in 2027 for organic growth

(currently 4.4%): (1) Media and Creative, which together now represent 87% of

group sales, grew 6.5% in Q2, meaning if Sapient (13% of group) was flat, growth

would have been 5.7%; (2) Strong performance in new business in 1H26 means that

we may not see a material deceleration in Media/Creative in 2027. Publicis said they