Tristan O'Carroll, Media Week, 09 October 2008, 4:00pm

Publicis chief forecasts "very difficult" 2009

LONDON - Maurice Levy, chairman and chief executive of Publicis Groupe, the world's fourth largest advertising group, has said that 2009 will be a "very difficult" year.

Maurice Levy: warns of depressed outlook for next year

Speaking to French business daily La Tribune, Levy said he was expecting "a difficult fourth quarter ... and a very difficult year 2009."

He added that the group was taking the depressed outlook into account when setting up its budgets for the coming year, although he reportedly said that the company has around €2bn(£1.6bn) cash on hand to aid its requirements.

Levy's comments follow the publication of ad spend forecasts by Publicis's ZenithOptimedia unit earlier this week, which cut its estimates for the global advertising market.

ZenithOptimedia lowered its forecast for global adspend growth over the next two years, believing the financial reverberations of recent bank failures is set to undermine confidence in the wider economy.

Global adspend for 2008 has been slashed from 6% in June's forecast to just 4.3% in today's report. Similarly, Zenith's growth forecast for 2009 has been revised downwards from 6% to 4%, with consumers and companies both expected to cut spending.