Publicis Groupe S.A. ($PUB)

Good morning. This is the conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Publicis Groupe's First Quarter 2026 Revenue Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Sherry, [Foreign Language] and welcome to Publicis Groupe First Quarter 2026 Revenue Call. I am Arthur Sadoun, and I'm here in Paris with our CFO, Loris Nold. Jean-Michel Bonamy is also here and will be available to take your questions offline after this call. I will start this presentation with our Q1 highlights. Loris will then take you through the numbers in more detail before I come back on the reason why we are confident in delivering our full year and midterm guidance. As usual, we will take your questions together after the presentation. But before we start, please take a moment to read the disclaimer, which is an important legal matter. There are 3 key highlights for the quarter. First, we continue to outperform with Q1 gross revenue up by 6.4% organically and 4.5% in net revenue growth, in line with our expectations. Second, we are delivering this very strong performance despite a deteriorating geopolitical context, proving the resilience of our model. Third, we are confirming our guidance of plus 4% to plus 5% net organic growth and all financial KPIs for 2026 with Q2 organic growth expected to accelerate slightly versus Q1, demonstrating our confidence in our ability to deliver industry-leading results once again this year. Let's start with the first highlights. Q1 marked our 20th consecutive quarter of outperformance and unmatched track record in our industry. In November, we indicated that if the new industry largest player did not report organic growth on a net basis like all peers, including IPG, we will need to adapt. As a result, from now on, we will report our top line performance using 2 organic growth metrics, gross revenue to allow a like-for-like comparison with the industry largest player as we want to ensure that you have clarity and transparency on our respective performances and net revenue our historic metric for consistency. When it comes to Q1, our gross revenue grew by 6.4% organically, reflecting strong momentum at the start of the year and demonstrating our ability to capture a disproportionate share of the market. This includes net revenue organic growth of 4.5%, right at the midpoint of our full year guidance and fully in line with our expectations. As in prior years, we have seen consistent delta versus Q4 of roughly 140 basis points. We are further widening the gap with competitors on an estimated net revenue basis as in previous years by close to 800 basis points this quarter compared to 650 basis points a year ago. Our second highlight is that we are once again demonstrating that our model is built to perform even as the geopolitical context increases macro uncertainties. Our AI-powered marketing services, representing 86% of our net revenue and encompassing data, media, creative, e-commerce, CRM and production delivered strong organic growth of 7.6% in gross revenue and 5.6% in net this quarter as all client demands continue to rise. The only area where the situation in the Middle East is waiting on our operations is around large transformation CapEx projects as client visibility decreases further. As a result, technology, representing 14% of our activity was affected with a slight organic decrease. This is particularly visible in Sapient U.K.-based international operation given their exposure to several Middle East-based clients. All of our key regions benefited from our momentum in AI-powered marketing services and delivered solid growth. The U.S., our largest market, representing 59% of our net revenue in Q1, delivered another strong quarter at plus 4.7% organic growth, bringing the region to a 7-year CAGR of 4.7%. Europe delivered plus 3.9%. Asia Pac was up plus 5.9% organic growth in Q1. And as expected, the Middle East, Africa region, which represents 3% of our net revenue was down mid-single digits in Q1. This brings me to our third highlight. While macro conditions appear to be getting tougher, we remain committed to giving you visibility on our performance for the rest of the year. Not only are we confirming our 2026 guidance of plus 4% to plus 5% for the full year, we are also confident that the 4% is rock solid, supported by 200 basis points of new business tailwinds, strong client retention and continued growth across our client base. Concerning Q2, if macro conditions do not significantly deteriorate, we would expect to see a slight acceleration versus Q1 despite the comp being 100 basis points higher. We are also reiterating our guidance of another slight improvement in our operating margin in 2026. versus our industry high of 18.2% in 2025 and a free cash flow guidance of circa EUR 2.1 billion. I will now hand over to Loris, who will take you through the detail of our numbers. I will then come back with the reason for our confidence in delivering on our full year 2026 guidance but also on our midterm objectives for '27 and '28, which we announced earlier this year.

Thank you, Arthur, and good morning, everyone. Let me go into the details of our Q1 revenue and net revenue. Revenue was EUR 4.191 billion, up 6.4% on an organic basis. Net revenue was EUR 3.460 billion. Organic growth was plus 4.5%, which comes on top of plus 4.9% in Q1 2025. There was a net negative impact of currency of 760 basis points due to the depreciation of the U.S. dollar, the pound sterling and several Lat-Am and APAC currencies versus the euro. And acquisitions, net of disposals contributed 130 basis points, reflecting the impact of 2025 acquisitions, amongst which Lotame, Captiv8, BR Media and p-value. Factoring in those items, net revenue was down 2.1% on a reported basis. Let's move to the next slide, which shows our Q1 net revenue by region. North America was up 4.7% on an organic basis on top of plus 4.8% in Q1 2025. This solid performance reflected the continued strong dynamic across both Connected Media and Intelligent Creativity. There was a negative impact of the USD versus euro, partly offset by the contribution from acquisitions and reported revenue was at minus 4% in Q1. Europe delivered plus 3.9% in organic growth, led by strong performances in the U.K. and Southern Europe. There was also a negative impact of the pound sterling versus euro, leading to a reported growth of plus 1.2% for the region. Asia Pacific posted plus 5.9% organic growth. China and India were very strong, up double digit organically. There too, the impact of currency depreciation in the region versus the euro led to a flat growth in Q1. Latin America continued to perform very strongly and reported plus 13.3% organic growth with strong contributions from Brazil and Mexico. And finally, Middle East and Africa was impacted by the geopolitical situation, leading to an organic decline of 5.1% for the quarter. Let's get into more details for each region, starting with North America. In the U.S., the group's largest geography, which represents 59% of our net revenues, organic growth was plus 4.7% after plus 4.1% in Q1 last year. Connected Media and Intelligent Creativity were both up mid-single digits, benefiting from new business wins and scope expansions. Technology was down low single digit in Q1 with continued wait-and-see attitude from clients. Let's turn to the performance in Europe on the next slide. Europe recorded plus 3.9% organic growth in Q1. The U.K., which represents 9% of our net revenue, posted a strong plus 6.2% organic growth. Connected Media was up double digit. Intelligent Creativity posted a mid-single-digit growth, while Technology was down as Publicis Sapient in the U.K. is servicing some clients based in the Middle East. France, which represents 5% of our net revenue, posted plus 1.6% organic growth, fueled by Connected Media up mid-single digits. Germany, which represents 3% of our net revenue was slightly up due to some very positive year-end adjustments in Q4. Lastly, our operations in Central and Eastern Europe were also slightly up after posting double-digit growth last year. Turning to the next slide for our performance in the Rest of the World. Asia Pacific, which represents 8% of our net revenue, delivered another strong plus 5.9% organic growth, led by Connected Media up double digits. China continues to be very solid with a remarkable plus 11.7% organic growth in Q1, benefiting from positive forward phasing. India also delivered a very high performance with plus 11.7% organic growth in Q1, followed by Australia at plus 7.6%. Latin America posted a plus 13.3% organic growth in Q1, driven by double-digit growth at Connected Media, in particular, in Brazil and Mexico. As mentioned earlier, Middle East and Africa posted a 5.1% organic decline in Q1 with UAE and Israel being the most impacted countries as expected. Moving to my last slide, net financial debt. Net debt at the end of March was EUR 1.156 billion, up EUR 1.7 billion in Q1, fully in line with our expectations. This increase is due to the usual change in working capital outflow in Q1 and the EUR 175 million of share buybacks executed in Q1, partly offset by free cash flow generation. Acquisitions, including new earn-outs, amounted to EUR 57 million in Q1 related to the acquisition of AdgeAI and the investment in AMI Labs. Payment for the acquisition of 160over90 will take place at closing in the course of Q2. Average net debt for the last 12 months is EUR 1.035 billion, up EUR 363 million versus average net debt at the end of March 2025. This reflects the impact of acquisitions completed since Q2 2025 and is consistent with our full year guidance of circa EUR 1.1 billion. This concludes my financial presentation, and I now give the floor back to you, Arthur.

Thank you, Loris. With Q1 up 6.4% organically in gross revenue and 4.5% in net, this was another strong quarter for Publicis, particularly in the current macro environment. There are 3 main reasons why we are confident in delivering on our objectives and continuing to outperform not just this year but in 2027 and in 2028. First, we have 0 distraction, meaning we are 100% focused on our clients. Today, our transformation is behind us, thanks to 3 strategic moves we made over the past decade, investing significantly in data and technology, eliminating silo through the Power of One to integrate those capabilities at the country level and moving early on AI with the creation of Marcel platform back in 2017. Now while others are still reorganizing their structures and cutting costs, we are executing and growing as you can see from our performance. Publicis was #1 in global new business in 2025, winning circa 6x more total billings than the nearest peers, while also ranking first in regional net new business according to COMvergence latest New Business Barometer. As a result, we have been increasing our media billings in the U.S. from $28 billion to $34 billion. Those gains means that we have not just maintained but also extended our #1 position in these key markets despite last year consolidation of the third and the fourth player. In China, we have taken the lead for the first time in 2025 with $6.7 billion of media billings versus $5.7 billion a year ago. To cut a long story short, we are #1 in the 2 key markets where scale really matters for our clients, the U.S. and China despite industry consolidation. Our single focus on our clients is the reason why we are having those results and what makes us more confident than ever in continuing to widen this gap with our peers. The second reason is that while the competitive landscape is shrinking with less competitors, Publicis addressable market continue to expand. There are now fewer scale global players. What was a fragmented market with 6 has reduced to 3 with genuine global reach capable of truly delivering for the largest clients. At the same time, our addressable market is significantly larger. Thanks to our acquisition strategy, we have been able to invest in new and high-growth segments such as identity management, commerce and influencer that are critical for our clients. This has helped us differentiate from our peers, both in sustaining client retention and winning new business. These acquisitions, which includes most recently Influential, Mars, BR Media or Captiv8 have been accelerating our EPS growth and have proven accretive to our business performance, as demonstrated by the 20% average growth they delivered last year. What's more, our focus and timely capital allocation, supported by the strongest balance sheet of the industry gives us a unique ability to continue acquiring the capabilities and services our clients need to win in the age of AI. The recent acquisition of AdgeAI in content measurement and 160over90 in sports marketing are just the latest illustration of our strategy in action. As you know, sports has been a strategic priority for us for over a year now. In the Agentic era, the value of sport marketing has only increased. It is the leading channel in terms of direct reach to MICE audience. 97 of the top 100 broadcast programs are live sports. And according to Forrester, CMO will increase their sport budget by 40% in the coming years. With this acquisition, we are following the same playbook as for influencer, buying the best asset in the market, putting Epsilon data at the core and connecting it to our end-to-end media ecosystem. Once the transaction is closed, we will be uniquely positioned to make sports addressable and measurable at scale. Third, AI has been a structural tailwind for many years, and it will continue to strengthen our business performance going forward. This is not an empty promise but a reality grounded in our financial results and our operating model. Over the past 3 years, in the Gen AI era, we have delivered nearly 20% organic growth, adding more than EUR 2 billion in net revenue. Over the same period, we have widened the gap versus our peers year after year through client retention and new business wins, demonstrating how AI has been a powerful accelerator of our differentiation. When it comes to our financial performance, since the launch of our AI platform, Marcel in 2017, we have almost doubled our EBITDA and our margin has increased by 270 basis points over the last 8 years, thanks to gains made from automation and operational transformation. And we are not stopping there. AI is also enabling us more than ever to rebalance our offering, shifting to the right mix of people, technology, platform and agents. Since 2024, we have accelerated the identification of our labor-intensive task among many other AI initiatives. This will unlock further operational leverage creating headroom to expand margin while continuing to invest in growth and talent. AI is making us faster and more efficient. But overall, it is putting us at the heart of our client agentic marketing transformation. Today, our client sees us as the most advanced player in this domain with some of the world's most innovative company choosing Publicis as their partner. This was the case once again last week when we expanded our relationship with Microsoft, thanks to our complementary data, technology and AI capabilities. In the world of Judson Althoff, CEO of Microsoft Commercial Business, together, we are building a full stack solution that unifies legacy system, AI agents and identity-based data to accelerate our client growth in the age of AI. Each of those structural advantages, 0 distraction and a singular focus on our clients, fewer competition in a larger addressable market and AI as a key accelerator are not only visible in our performance today. They are also the reason why we are confident in continuing to outperform the industry in the years to come. We have all the conditions in place to deliver on our 2026 guidance as outlined earlier and to sustain this performance beyond 2026 with net revenue growth of 6% to 7% at constant currency in '27 and '28, leading to EPS growth of 7% to 9% in both years also at constant currency. But the strength of our model means that once again this quarter, we have captured a disproportionate share of our client demand for AI-powered marketing services, outperforming our industry for the 20th quarter in a row. Despite the macro uncertainties, we are confident in delivering our full year guidance, thanks to our client retention rates and new business wins. Now our sole focus is on putting our clients at the center, continuing to adapt and evolve our model for this AI world and winning market share. In that context, we are expecting to deliver a slight acceleration of our performance in Q2. Let me end by thanking our clients for their trust and our people for their outstanding efforts. Thank you all for listening. And now with Loris, we are ready to take all of your questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Laura Metayer of Morgan Stanley.

Arthur and Loris, congrats on the good results this quarter. Three questions, please. The first one is on the OpenAI Sora SHUTDOWN. I'm curious, Arthur, what is your view on this and what it means for the industry and for you? And second question is the growth that you're having with existing clients. Can you talk a little bit about what's driving it? What sort of additional services are they buying from Publicis? Or is it more of the same in terms of what you're seeing there? And then lastly, on the partnership with Microsoft that you announced last week, what's the business model, the go-to-market and the type of clients you're targeting with the product that you're jointly creating?

Thank you, Laura. I guess I'll start with the growth on existing clients. If I take a step back in order to understand how we are able to actually overdeliver on our growth and continue to outperform, it is mainly due to the breadth of the capability we're having to offer at the moment where clients are really looking for agented transformation, which is basically also the point about Microsoft. And to come back to your question, we are uniquely positioned, first, to help them review their mainframe modernization at the moment where tech is everything if you want to win in AI, and this is basically what we do with Sapient. And this is why we see so much project at the moment despite the problem of the Middle East. The second thing is once the client have the technology, they need the data. And that's a big critical part. And by the way, one of the reasons why we are winning without pitches at the moment is that every of our clients today understand that it's about identity. And so our ability to put identity at the core of the system allow us to make AI work for real with no hallucination. And that's, again, another area where we do some growth through Epsilon. Third, they need agents. They need to make sure that this data is connected to the right agent that will activate the right media and creative. And so to come back to your question, when you are credible in technology, when you have the right data that will lead to the right agent, then you continue to grow, by the way, not only in media but also in creative and particularly in production with double-digit growth. So what you need to understand there is that it is because we have an end-to-end model that is not here to serve a communication purpose but the transformation purpose that we are able to grow as we do. And again, if you look at our performance this quarter, what is very interesting is you have roughly 200 basis points that come from the tailwind of new business, but you have 250 basis points that comes from existing clients despite the macro difficulty, despite what we have experienced in the Gulf at the end of the quarter. This hopefully is a testament of the fact that what we are offering to our clients is unique. And by the way, offering it with value, as you know, our margin growth. I'm not going to expand too much on Microsoft because we -- first of all, we never comment on new business, as you know, for a very simple reason is that you need to be careful when you translate billings into revenue and then in terms of margin. And so I want to be careful on how we talk about that. What I can tell you about Microsoft, which I think is pretty interesting for our investors on the call is we have been hearing so much over the last 2 or 3 years that the tech companies might eat our industry for breakfast and that they won't need us in the future. Hopefully, this is a great demonstration that when you have the right capabilities, when you have made real investments in data, technology and AI, then you can offer something that is a great complement of those big companies. And I think what you should take out of this partnership is that it started by us sitting down with Microsoft and looking at how we can offer to our common clients an agentic solution, and we have seen how well our capabilities were fitting together. And the second reaction of Microsoft was to say, this looks great. Let's put it on Microsoft as Client Zero. And this is why we have been honored and lucky to start the relationship with them. Actually, and I won't give any name on that call but as some others that you have seen over the last 16 months, I would say, on big wins that was only based on our capabilities. Now on Sora, I mean, you might remember that when Sora launched at the end of 2024, the market got very concerned. And actually, our share price got heavily impacted. It's bad memories but this is what happened. I think this termination is actually quite symbolic. So thank you for asking the question. And hopefully, the market should recognize it because it fully confirm what we have been saying all along and that we are continuing to say is that consumer adoption is moving faster than enterprise adoption. It doesn't mean that we don't have to move. It means that it's more complex. And by the way, the point I made about how we accompany our clients making the difference. Clients actually don't want gimmicky solution but they really want enterprise-grade solution to operate within their own environment. And I think what is happening again with Sora is that you can be a fantastic company with great assets, with great AI, this is not an easy thing. An agentic transformation as for the right capabilities, the right people, the right model. And hopefully, you're seeing quarter after quarter that AI is definitely a tailwind for us. It's in our number. And that at the end of the day, because we are at the center of our client transformation, we have a very big role to play. Sorry, I've been a bit long, but thank you for the question. It's good to talk -- to talk a bit about strategy.

The next question is from Nicolas Langlet of BNP Paribas Exane.

I've got 3 questions, please. First of all, on the Q2 guidance, you expect a slight acceleration. What is driving that expected acceleration? Is it more improved trend with existing clients or higher net new business effect? And can you say what was the trend exiting the Q1, so in March '26 after the Middle East tension started? Secondly, on the geopolitical tension, how do you perceive the clients' behavior and decision-making differing from previous episodes like the start of the Ukraine invasion back in '22? Are you seeing any shift in client priorities, risk appetite or demand for specific services? And how you're adapting to these changes? And lastly, to come back on the recent partnership with Microsoft, the AI part of the partnership. What's the expected timeline for the full implementation? And what are the potential impact on Sapient revenue and margin profile going forward?

All right. I'll go fast on the Microsoft again because we don't want to say too much but it's already starting to be implemented with Microsoft, and it's ready for our clients to be developed. So now we're entering into the phase where we have to commercialize our offer. It's too early to know the kind of revenue we can expect. But yes, expect this to be a driver for Sapient in the future for sure. And in 2 ways, if I can, Nicolas, through the revenue, but also through the credibility because as you are seeing at the moment, the question of what system integrators and you can look at the overall market are offering to clients is shifting. And this is a good taste of what we can offer as new product with such an advanced company to our clients. If I move to the guidance, I will let Loris come back on Q2 in a second, but maybe I use this opportunity to give you, again, a bit of context because I guess with everything that has been happening in the last months since we talk, it's worth spending a bit of time. I mean, again, hopefully, I hope you have seen through our presentation that in a context that is definitely deteriorating, we are giving you visibility. It was very important for us to come to you with the maximum visibility at the moment where you need to have some. And hopefully, you have seen also that we are giving you assurance on our ability to deliver it. And the good news is we didn't fail you on this since years now. Okay. So we are confirming the 4% to 5%. And maybe a couple of points out of the 4% to 5%. First of all, it's going to be the seventh year in a row. So I mean, for those that were saying that it was cyclical, that this was not sustainable, you see what is really happening. But if you look at a few points that we need to add, first, again, you're going to see a sequential acceleration in Q2, Loris, I'm going to come back into that. But I think it's also important to note that every quarter should be within our full year guidance range, which means that, therefore, our 4% is rock solid even if macro conditions were to deteriorate. And I also think it's important to note that if you look at constant currency, we are roughly when you add acquisition between 6% and 7%. But maybe you can say a word on the Q2.

Sure. Nicolas, so just to give you more granularity on the slight acceleration that we expect in Q2. Again, despite the tougher comp and the deterioration that we see in the macro, there's probably 3 reasons. The first is, you remember, we had some positive year-end adjustment in Q4 that created a favorable sequential base in Q1 ahead of Q2. Second, the contribution from our 2025 new business also sequentially improves into Q2. And the last point is that we continue to see a sustained demand when it comes to our AI products and services. So despite the lower macro visibility, clients are prioritizing solutions that drive measurable outcomes and efficiency. So what explains the acceleration we expect in Q2.

Last but not least, your question on clients is very large. I mean what I can tell you is that after COVID, after the war in Ukraine, after tariff, after inflation and now with the Middle East conflict, I would say that our clients, and you have seen that are used to be navigating uncertainty. This is a reality. By the way, it's incredibly strange to see how much they can take and continue to go on. Because, by the way, they know that if they cut marketing spend, they will lose market share that would be very expensive and very difficult to win back. And this is why we have not seen any significant reduction in marketing budget in Q1. And actually, we have seen a demand that is increasing for AI-powered products and services. And this is why we gave you the number. When you look at media, creative and you add CRM and commerce, which is roughly 84% of our revenue, 85% or 86% actually, we are growing organically around 6%. So huge demand when it comes to marketing services still because they don't want to lose market share. And of course, with our AI model, we are taking benefit of that. Honestly, the main impact of recent events and of course, the Middle East has been reduced visibility. And this is why, again, some clients are still -- and many clients actually are still freezing their CapEx. This is affecting Sapient in the Middle East, and we talked a lot about that. This is a very important point when it comes to Sapient. But actually, it's also affecting Sapient in the U.K. where we manage part of what we do in the Middle East. But to be clear, despite the fact that we see a wait-and-see attitude on CapEx, which is again 14% of our revenue, we still see very high demand on AI-powered marketing services that represent 86%. And this is why, by the way, we continue to see a slight improvement again, a continued great dynamic for Q2.

The next question is from Jerome Bodin of ODDO BHF.

Three questions on my side. First, on the budget wins. So regarding what you said, could you just make a recall or an update on the sequence Q2, Q3, Q4 in terms of impact? And if it's 200 basis points in 2026, what should we expect for '27? I know it's a bit early but you already won a few very nice budget in the recent weeks. That's my first question. Second one on Middle East. Could you just quantify the size of the Middle East for Sapient? And is it a strong decline in March or a total cut? And I guess that's the same for the beginning of Q2 but just to confirm. And lastly, on the Trade Desk conflict. So first of all, could you come back on the reason of this decision? And then my question is also about the alternative that you have for -- versus the Trade Desk. And could you explain what are the main alternative for Publicis today? And to what extent your own capabilities in terms of media and identity could replace a third-party partner like Trade Desk?

Right. I'm going to quickly take the budget win and then I'll pass on to you for the Middle East and I close with the Trade Desk. So Again, Nicolas (sic) [ Jerome ], we -- as you know, we don't comment too much new business. Actually, not at all. We never talk about a win for many reasons. But I would say the main reason is that new business wins can give you a dynamic but you should all be very careful in how you translate winning billings into revenue and then into margin. I encourage you to look at what has been announced, for example, in '24 and what has happened in '25. We don't want to mislead you with this, and we are being very, very careful. What I can tell you at this stage is that looking at the momentum we had last year, we feel very confident on the 200 basis points. I'm not going to give you kind of quarter-by-quarter visibility but the 200 basis points is hopefully already a good lecture. And then I have to admit that after what has been an incredible year last year and a very strong Q4 with a major win, we are starting off very strong in Q1 this year. We had a couple of major wins. I mean, one that you know because it has been public, other that were a bit smaller, but are great too. And we have a pipe at the moment that is pretty impressive. One of the reasons why we are publishing on Tuesday that we basically have pitch every day starting tomorrow. So there is a lot of opportunities. And so getting to 200 basis points next year should definitely be our objective. Do you want to talk about the Middle East?

Yes. Jerome, so on the Middle East, so the region as a whole represents less than 3% of our net revenue. When it comes to Sapient, you have to look at 2 first, the Sapient business in the Middle East. And as Arthur was saying, the Sapient U.K. handling a number of clients that are based in the Middle East. When you do the sum of those revenues, you get to roughly 10% of Sapient overall. Now all that being said, we've incorporated all those potential headwinds into the floor of our guidance, which is why what Arthur said is the 4% is rock solid.

On the Trade Desk, as you know, we didn't make any comment. But what I can tell you is that the story is very simple, actually. We are auditing the relationship with every of our clients -- for every of our clients with every vendor. Every vendor is audited by Publicis. And of course, we pass the audit to our clients. In this case, BQT ran the audit, and they found that the Trade Desk did not pass it. And the only thing we have done and that we will always do is that we have informed our clients of the filing as we believe it is our responsibility, and it is our responsibility. And that's it. The rest is just noise created by the press. The thing that I can tell you also to answer your question is that we work with a range of leading DSPs, okay? And we don't have any competing offer when it comes to self-serve DSP products that could be a direct competitor to the Trade Desk, and we are not planning to build any. So to come back to your question, it's too early to say how investment will flow for the future. But what I can tell you is that we will do it very transparently, which is, by the way, a point that is so important for our clients, and they have valued the way we are taking the topic. And we have absolutely no intention to build a competitive offer to the Trade Desk. We want to keep in our position.

The next question is from Ciaran Donnelly of Citi.

First question, just on March exit rates for net revenue organic growth. Can you just give us an idea of how that's trended and particularly around the U.S.? Two, just on the 160over90 acquisition, can you provide any financial details? And I guess, implicitly, what that means for your comments at the full year '25 results around potential for reallocating capital to the share buyback? And then finally, just on Sapient, should we still expect Sapient to deliver positive organic growth in FY '26?

You want to take the March? On acquisition, there is little we can say. As you know, we are only on the signing and not the closing, so we have to be careful on what we said. But I'll let you take those 2, and I'll finish with the question of Sapient.

Yes. So March was within our guidance. So I mean, all the months in Q1 was strong. And despite what was a more challenging macro, obviously, in the month of March that affected the Middle East, as we discussed, but that was largely compensated by what we saw in the U.S., a very strong performance across the quarter, including in the month of March, which is an acceleration versus what we saw in Q4. So again, it's pluses and minuses that get us to the 4.5%. On the acquisition specifically, as Arthur said, we've signed 160over90. There's still a couple of months before we get to closing. So we're expecting this to be a cash out in Q2. But we have invested roughly half of the envelope for the year, including earnout. This is upfront plus earn-out. The pipe remains fairly solid, and we're looking at a number of acquisitions. Same strategic priority, focusing on where we can create new addressable market, where we can help our clients grow, again, focusing on identity resolution, on production tech and on new media channels. And we'll give you an update when we get to H1.

And again, it's too early to say. We have a clear plan for acquisition. There are some opportunities. If they were to materialize, it would be great. If not, of course, we will use our cash for share buyback. But for the moment, it's too early to say. We need to see how things are going to evolve. And by the way, I think 160over90 is a great example of what we think is the best use of your cash. We are talking about the segment that is the fastest growing. CMO are planning to invest 40% more on sports. 97 out of 100 top audience are sports. And we are at the moment where we are uniquely placed to make those acquisitions. I mean, I don't want to give you any detail about the transaction. But what I can tell you is when you look at who was betting for what is the best sports agency and what is the most advanced sector at the moment, it was us and a couple of private equity because we were the only strategic partner that has the balance sheet and the strategy to make an acquisition that is going to be transformational for our clients because, again, what we should not forget here is that in the age of AI, of course, it's about reorganizing ourselves, and we did that years ago. But it's also continuing to invest in capabilities that can make our client growth and open new addressable market for us, and sports is definitely one. When you come to Sapient, first of all, I think that when you look at the performance on a truly comparable basis, meaning IT consulting, excluding M&A, we are basically performing in line with the rest of the industry. And as you know, this industry still experiences a wait-and-see attitude from clients. As we say, on the one hand, the conflict in the Middle East is clearly having an impact. It has been an impact directly through our operation there and in the U.K., where, again, we deliver services for the Middle East. And also the Middle East is having an indirect impact by furthering and delaying even more of the large transformation CapEx project, okay? This is, I guess, something that you have heard for all of the markets. But on the other hand, and this is why it's very encouraging, and I started with that with the question of Laura. Sapient remain extremely busy and actually actively engaged in many IT consulting projects because every client will have to transform their mainframe. Every client will have to go through this agent transformation. And so we see a lot of projects that are coming our way at the moment that can start to materialize in terms of CapEx. I mean -- and to come back to your question, why we expect Q2 to remain challenging, we are still aiming despite Middle East to see Sapient to grow slightly this year, assuming, of course, that the conflict in the Middle East and soon. Long answer but as we made a short presentation.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Julien Roch of Barclays.

My first question is, can we have the split of the 86% between Connected Media and Intelligent Creative to the nearest percent. Second question is, can we have the net sales weight of production in Q1 to the nearest percent and production organic in Q1? And then coming back to your answer on the Trade Desk, you're saying you're not planning to build an alternative to existing DSP. Why not? Because I would think that with Epsilon and all the capabilities you have, you could, in which case your clients would save 15% to 20% of pass-through cost, and that would give you a significant competitive advantage against other agencies. So why do you need DSPs with all the capabilities you have?

Because I'm going to start with the Trade Desk, which would give a bit of time to Loris to get all the specific number you're asking. Look, Julien, again, you see the momentum we're having. The reason -- one of the reasons why we're having this momentum is because we have very clear execution of our plan. And our #1 priority is to build products and services that can help our client growth in this AI world. And it's not by building another platform that we're going to help our clients more. It's about connecting our capabilities, it's about bringing new capabilities in place. And again, yes, you're right. If we were deciding to do that, maybe we will see some growth over there. But there is not a priority for us, by the way, to accelerate in principal media. As you know, it's roughly 1% of our revenue globally that is in the U.S. So this is not our priority. Our priority at the moment is to continue to invest in our model and bring products and services that our clients can use and really transform. Having another self-serve DSP won't help our clients to transform and grow in this AI world. So we don't see that as a priority. Loris?

I'm going to be very precise on the split for Connected Media and Intelligent Creativity. So only 86%, which is actually 86.1%, you have 60.2% on Connected Media and 25.9% on Intelligent Creativity. Now the question on the production net sales versus net revenue, I mean, it's probably a broader question on pass-through cost. And Julien, as you've seen from previous quarter, pass-through can vary fairly significantly. But specifically on Q1, I would say probably 2 or 3 things. First, we are very much in line with what was the growth on pass-through in Q1 2025. It was roughly 16%, and we are at 17%. You have to take into account the impact of acquisition as well and the full year consolidation of Captiv8 and BR Media. We see stronger growth in Q1 actually in events and production pass-through but there is no meaningful change in the contribution with media and production/events each representing about 45% of pass-through cost in total.

Okay. Sorry, I wasn't clear at all. I wanted the percentage of net sales that was production. So within the 25.9% that is creative, how much is production of the total? And then what was the organic production because Arthur said double digit, but I suppose it's low double digit.

Got it. So the production is depending on the quarter, anywhere between 25% and 30% of Intelligent Creativity. And this quarter, it is growing at high single digits. So it's more than 10% on the 25%.

Out of 25% is roughly 10% to 10%-plus, I would say, growing double digit. And by the way, what is very interesting here, Julien, and the big advantage we have is that, I mean, production, as you all see it with people shooting stuff in Nice Studio is over. This is pure tech now. All the platforms are actually built by Sapient. And so that, of course, doesn't represent revenue for Sapient because it's internal cost. But the reason why we see so much growth on production is because we have the best technology with Sapient, the best data with Epsilon, and we can make any content not only addressable but truly measurable. And that's what makes a big difference and why we are growing at this pace.

The next question is from Adrien de Saint Hilaire of Bank of America.

I've got a few questions, if that's okay. Arthur, you talked about the fact that you had won Microsoft without a pitch, and that seems to be increasingly the case for some of your biggest wins. I suppose there is a cost benefit for you as you don't incur the classic pitching cost. But would you say that there is also a revenue benefit? And I realize this may be sensitive information, but conceptually, I'm interested to hear if there is a material uplift to revenue versus a classic pitch. Secondly, after you reported numbers, 2 of your competitors made some strategic presentations, and they both pointed to the fact that -- or one of them at least that they could prune their portfolio, reduce headcount to boost operating margin. I'm just curious if you also see an opportunity that Publicis for the midterm.

Great. I'll start with the second question. I mean, as you know, by the way, because this is -- we moved into the model our competitors moved on last quarter in 2014 under Maurice Levy leadership when we created Publicis Media, Publicis Creative, Publicis Sapient. And at that time, Maurice as the CEO did the heavy work, and I had to do it actually for the Creative part to simplify our structure, to make sure that we have less layer, that things are organized and any assets that was actually not reperforming has been I would say, absorb or merge with others. So we have done this work. And today, there is nothing that really deserves to be seen as being sold basically. But what is important here is that we move from this phase to another phase because, yes, we have been organized by expertise through Publicis Media, Publicis Creative and Publicis Sapient from 2014 until 2017. And then in '17, we apply a radical shift, which we are the only one to apply. And the reason why, by the way, we brought back organic growth on our client at the time, which is to move from P&L that were per expertise to P&L that were per geographies. And that has been the tough thing to do because one thing is to say we're going to put all the creative together, all the media together, all the tech together, fine. And you can find some efficiencies, and we find some. So to come back to your question, we have done the work already. But what's really transformed Publicis is when we say now they're going to be a single P&L per country or region for smaller region, basically. That has been maybe the most difficult thing we have done. And as you would remember, we did that in '17, and we paid a very high price in '18 and '19 because our organic growth has been contracted due to the fact that we were really changing our structure. This is, if you ask me, the main reason why we are winning today is that when we make a new acquisition, when we have a new client, we think end-to-end in every country. And by the way, when we have to adjust our cost base, this is how we do too. because it's fluid from one operation to another. So to come back to your question, we have done this heavy work. And maybe to go to a question that you have not asked yet is we are absolutely not interested in buying more of the same. So we are not at all interested in anything that can come from this process. On Microsoft, again, I don't want to make too much comment on Microsoft. I think that what is important to take out of this collaboration, but please don't stop to this one. Again, we are not naming any client, but you can think about 2 very iconic more at least that we have won in the last 14 months without a pitch. What you should take out of that is that for clients that truly want agentic marketing transformation, that is serious about AI. And we have to be careful because, as I said, the level of adoption in AI is very different from one client to another. If I make the comparison with gas, there are still a client that wants to run on gas. There are some that wants to go on hybrid, and there are some that want to go fully electric, okay? This is exactly what we are experiencing with clients. Some for the moment, say, oh, I'm not touching my model. It's too early. I want to see what is happening. Most of them want to go hybrid. So they're going to put 30% of Agentic and maybe 70% of services. And then you have the one that really want to go full Agentic, which is 70% technology, 30% service, okay? For those one, we are the only solution in the market. It's pretty simple because we are the only one with sapiens and with Epsilon, totally integrated at a country level that can deliver 70% Agentic, 30% service. And these are the ones that we are winning without the pitch at the moment.

The final question is from Anna Patrice of Berenberg.

Can you hear me?

Yes. Very well.

Three questions from my side. First of all, you start every time by comparing your company to the advertising agencies, the holding companies. Why you don't compare to Accenture Song or Deloitte Digital, et cetera. So who are your main competitors, do you think really in the new world? Second question, if you could comment on your retention rate and how you're growing with your existing clients? And third question is on the remuneration. So my understanding is that, obviously, you have the retainers, you have the credit fees, et cetera. But how do you see the moving the remuneration because of the AI? So is it still a large part on retainers? Is it more now driven by the results? And how do you define the results? So any comments will be quite appreciated on how the remuneration is changing?

Thank you very much. When you're talking about retention rate is on client and not on people, right?

On clients, yes, on clients, exactly.

Thank you for asking the question because if you look at our performance, the thing I am the proudest of by far is our retention rate. We roughly have today a retention rate of 98%. What does it mean? It means that our clients find with Publicis something that they consider they can't find somewhere else. They find the quality of the service with great talent. They find capabilities that they can't have anywhere else. And they realize that with Publicis, they are truly at the center of our model, which is where there is a big difference to coming back to the silos we talk about expertise earlier on. And so the thing that I look the most is actually at this, and this is, I think, the #1 KPI that you guys should look at because if we are able not only to keep but to grow our clients with new services, it gives you a sense of how we can run our business in the future and how we can continue to win share of markets. Do you want to say something on remuneration?

Yes. So when you look at remuneration models as a whole, today, it varies from headcount base to time and material with some variable portions typically under the forms of bonuses or maluses. And -- but this is for a limited portion of the total remuneration. And I would say that while the vast majority of our contracts have those variable portion based on KPIs, the share of strictly performance-based today represents, I would say, roughly 10% of our total remuneration. So it's still very early days when it comes to outcome-based remuneration models, and we haven't seen any significant evolution.

As it is the last question, allow me to close with your first question, which is why are we comparing ourselves with holding companies and not with Accenture and Deloitte and others. So first, we are doing it when it comes to Sapient because the direct competitor of Sapient is Accenture and Deloitte. And as I said earlier, if you compare apple-to-apple their performance, we are basically in the same bucket today with -- by the way, they have a higher multiple than we did on that. But maybe more importantly, and that's come back to your question, and I think it's a great reminder for us, and thank you again for raising the point is what we are building today at Publicis is truly a category of one. And if you look at our growth but by the way, if you look also at our margin improvement, you realize that not only we are outperforming our peers from the holding company but we are also outperforming the Accenture and Deloitte. I think it's very interesting to look at our performance in growth. We did it because the largest player now is also in growth to show you the difference of performance and model. But this is also true if you apply it to the people you just mentioned. And so I think that we have done that now consistently for years. By the way, it's funny to see that we have been outperforming also those direct competitors for us like Accenture and Deloitte since Gen AI. Since AI came over, we have started to perform better than those guys. Why? Maybe because at the end of the day, as I said, the level of adoption of AI being different from consumer to companies, companies, yes, they need technology, but they also need the best service and people that truly understand them, which is what we are. And again, the reason why we are outperforming everyone and the reason why I think we are building a category of one and maybe we are not doing a great job to explain that is basically threefold. First, because we have invested in best-in-class capabilities. And it has not been easy, to be honest, because we made some strong bets. But today, no one in any of those industries that you just mentioned has, at the same time, identity at the level we do technology, best-in-class capabilities in influencer, e-commerce and now in sport. And no one, by the way, by his model, and that's the second point, is capable of connecting it as we do. That's what our difference with one last single point, and I will close on that. It is thanks to our talent. And if they are listening to this call, I want to take a second to thank them because at the end of the day, the reason why we have built this category of one is definitely because we have been brave enough to invest in new capabilities. We have been suffering a lot to build a unique model without silos, but more importantly, because we have people that every day in the trenches are focusing on their clients. And by the way, which should be a reassuring message for all of you. This is basically the only thing they do. They don't have to worry about anything else than taking care of their clients and delivering the growth that has allowed us to outperform this industry for the 20th quarter in a row again in Q1. I thank you very much, and I guess I see some of you soon. [Foreign Language]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over, and you may disconnect your telephones.