In what its CEO, Yannick  Bolloré (pictured) described as a "record year" the company also achieved organic growth of 5.1% (the same as in 2014 ) and income from operations of €315 million  (+20%).

"The group once again posted one of the strongest performances in the industry. Havas delivered growth in all our regions, increased income from operations margin by an additional 30 basis points to 14.4% and maintained a strong balance sheet to support our future growth," said Bolloré.

"These results are the outcome of a highly effective strategy centred on collaboration and integration among all the Group’s areas of expertise, to provide our clients with an efficient and innovative service that seamlessly combines creative, media and digital."

Havas spent about €80 million (earn-out and buy-out obligations included) on acquisitions in 2015 focused on building its expertise in digital, technology and creativity. These included market research and opinion poll agency CSA, Canadian Plastic Mobile agency and digital comms group FullSix.

All the countries in Europe reported growth in 2015, headed by France, particularly in Q4, with organic growth of +6.6%. The UK also performed strongly over the year with organic growth of +4.4%.