Vincent Bollore's Havas has defied the negative outlook for the ad industry, reporting a 3.6% year-on-year rise in revenue to €755m (£596.8m) and organic growth of 7.86% in the first half of the year.

Despite the strong performance from Havas, which followed figures from Publicis Groupe reporting 5.4% organic growth for the first half, the company warned that it was preparing for a "more fragile economic environment".

The company, which owns ad agencies including Euro RSCG and media planning and buying network MPG, said that organic growth reached a high of 8.4% in the second quarter.

A breakdown showed that Euro RSCG achieved 6.6% organic growth in the first half while Havas Media managed a solid 16.3% increase.

"We are now preparing for a more fragile economic environment, but our performance, which exceeded our expectations, leaves us comfortable about our ability to react," said Rodes Vila, the Havas Groupe chief executive.

The company said that European countries such as Portugal, Italy and Spain posted strong growth "in excess of 10%", helping to drive revenues of €448m (£354m) in the first half.

Great Britain's growth "accelerated sharply in the second quarter despite the depressed market", the company said.

Havas added that North America produced a "strong performance", posting revenues of €234m (£184.9m).

Growth in the rest of the world was driven by the Asia Pacific region, which saw revenue grow from €30m (£23.7m) to €36m (£28.4m), although the company admitted that the loss of the Dell account would affect the region's second half performance.

Net new business was €1.13bn (£892m) in the first half, the company added.

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