Havas Ups Stake in Creston

French ad network Havas has increased its stake in UK-based insight and communications group Creston to more than 6%, just days after buying a 5% share of the business.

Last month, Creston reported slow revenue growth of 1% for the second quarter of the year, impacted by a poor performance from its research agency ICM. The group has recently integrated the three ICM companies - ICM Research, ICM Direct, and face-to-face specialist Fieldwork UK - and merged the last two of these.

Creston owns 22 companies, covering market research, branding, advertising, PR and healthcare communications. Its Insight division also includes Marketing Sciences and Vitaris Research Consultancy, while its Communications arm includes Nelson Bostock and Tullo Marshall Warren, and its Health sector houses Cooney Waters and Red Door Communications, amongst others.

Havas is led by Chairman Vincent Bolloré (pictured), who previously made a number of acrimonious attempts to win seats on the Board of marcoms group Aegis, prior to its sale of Synovate to Ipsos. Bolloré has recently committed to sell his 20% stake in Aegis to Dentsu, which is currently in the process of acquiring Aegis in a £3.16 billion deal.

The French firm, which now owns more than 3.7 million Creston shares, recently bought a majority stake in US-based idea creation specialist Victors & Spoils (V&S), which manages and curates a crowd of more than 6,000 creatives who participate in crowdsourcing initiatives.

Web sites: www.havas.com and www.creston.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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