'Havas still bets on Italia and in Mfe silent and satisfied shareholders'

Just talking about M&A the advertising sector is affected by a transformative operation: the merger of Interpublic and Omnicom. Is it possible to imagine your involvement in terms of mergers and acquisitions?

There are five big global communication groups left in the world: Interpublic, which merged with Omnicom, then there are Wpp, Publicis, Dentsu, and Havas. When I think of Havas, I think that our size, with 23,000 people and around EUR 2.8 billion in turnover, is the right size. It's a scale that also allows us agility, speed, closeness to customers. This is our competitive advantage. We will continue with bolt-on, targeted acquisitions, as we have already done, but we are not thinking about transformative operations in the coming months.

How important is artificial intelligence in this design?

It matters a lot. AI is both an opportunity and a challenge. In recent years we have worked to transform Havas into an AI-driven organisation, because we are convinced that the agencies that use AI well will replace those that do not.

What does Italia represent for Havas today?

It is one of our key markets. Europe accounts for more than half of the turnover and Italia is among the most important countries, together with Germany and behind France, UK, Spain. We have 500 people, we have been here for more than 30 years and we want to strengthen our position.

In concrete terms, what is your trajectory in the Italia market?

Building the best communication player in Italia. It means helping companies transform business and grow it through stronger, more effective, more integrated campaigns. It also means attracting the best professionals, creating a competitive working environment.

You believe in Italia, but you have exited - and with big losses - from Tim. Isn't that nonsense?

Absolutely not. Vivendi did not decide to reduce its investment in Italia, but to exit the Tlc sector. In 2025 Vivendi sold its stake in Tim, as it did in Telefónica, to concentrate on media and video games. This is not a negative judgement on Italia, nor a strategic retreat from the country. If there are consistent opportunities, Vivendi may be very favourable to invest in Italia again.

But does Vivendi's exit from the capital not risk changing something in the relationship between Havas and Tim, which is an important client of the agency?

The contract between Havas and Tim was not linked to Vivendi's shareholding. Tim was and is an important customer for us: Havas follows the creative campaigns of the group in Italia and Brazil. And of course we hope that our team in Italia will now renew the partnership with Telecom Italia.

The other key investment in Italia is Mfe-Mediaset. Your share is still there.

Vivendi is an important investor in Mfe, but it is a minority investor, which is supporting their growth strategy in other countries. So it's a different situation from Tim, where we wanted to get out of the Tlc sector. We are happy with the investment in Mfe and I think we can rightly say that Mediaset is happy to have Vivendi as a shareholder.

Possible to increase participation?

No, it is not in the plans at the moment.

If Havas continues to invest in Italia, could Vivendi look again at new opportunities in the country?

If there are consistent opportunities, Vivendi will evaluate them carefully. I repeat: there has been no disengagement from Italia. There has been a reallocation away from Tlc, to focus on media and videogames. The country remains interesting.

What is the final message?

That Havas is here to grow. We want to strengthen our presence, invest in skills, support customers and contribute to the development of the communications market in Italia. This is a long-term story, not a tactical bet.