Welcome back, today is Friday, July twenty-fourth, and we begin with Havas, which reports first-half organic growth of two and a half percent. Havas has published its first-half results. Net revenue came in at one point three six two billion euros, up one point two percent as reported, and two and a half percent organically, against two point three percent a year earlier. The company says that sits at the midpoint of its full-year guidance, which it confirmed at two to three percent organic growth. Adjusted EBIT reached one hundred and fifty million euros, up four point two percent, for a margin of eleven percent against ten point seven. That thirty-basis-point improvement reads straight through to cost discipline. Per the company, staff costs were flat year on year at nine hundred and thirty-two million euros, with headcount at twenty-two thousand nine hundred and sixty. Restructuring costs rose to thirteen million euros from seven, which Havas attributes to operating efficiency work and to changes in executive leadership teams in several markets. Net income, group share, was up thirteen and a half percent at eighty-four million euros. The regional split is where client spending shows. North America grew six point nine percent organically in the half. Europe managed zero point seven, with France and the United Kingdom slightly negative. Asia Pacific and Africa fell four point eight percent, which the company links to China and to the Middle East. Latin America returned to growth at four percent. Chairman and chief executive Yannick Bolloré said the results reflect, in his words, the resilience of the model and the continued success of the group's Converged strategy. Investing dot com reports the shares were little changed in early trading. Also today, a read on how independent agency owners are thinking about selling. Adweek, with Evros Group, reports that more than half of the independent agency owners surveyed for its twenty twenty-six M and A Sentiment Survey want to sell, with seller interest at a multiyear high. Worth holding the distinction: that is stated intent, not completed deals. It bears on how independents plan for succession, and on how buyers size the acquisition pipeline for the rest of the year. The report also sets owners against buyers and investors, mapping where expectations align and where they diverge, and what separates the agencies drawing premium interest from those still waiting to transact. Industry reaction leans toward reading the surge as a talent story as much as a deal story. A recurring view in the market is that consolidation across adjacent services sectors, asset management and consulting among them, creates redundancy and frees up experienced change and technology people. Some in the trade also read recent services-sector valuations as buyers paying for differentiated intellectual property and agility rather than scale alone, which would explain appetite on both sides of the table. Separately, three structural items landed together, per ExchangeWire. Following our earlier report on Omnicom merging Mediahub and Hearts and Science, the outlet reports the combined network will span forty markets and oversee roughly nine point one billion dollars in annual billings, launching next month under a new name and identity. Regional leadership is taking shape. Nicole Estebanell, currently chief executive of Mediahub US, is expected to lead the combined agency in the United States, with Ross Jenkins set to run EMEA. Also per ExchangeWire, a judge has approved Anthropic's one point five billion dollar copyright settlement, clearing the way for payments of about three thousand dollars per work across an estimated five hundred thousand works. The outlet describes it as the largest settlement in US copyright history, the first of that scale to put a per-work figure on training-data exposure, and notes many authors remain unconvinced, given how the underlying legal question was resolved. And M plus C Saatchi has signed heads of terms for a management buyout of its Australia and New Zealand business, led by chief executive Dani Bassil and backed by the investment firm Parc, with completion expected in October. Now, a few more headlines moving the trade today. Building on our earlier coverage of holding-company chief pay, Everything PR reports Publicis shareholders approved a policy raising Arthur Sadoun's base salary twenty percent, to one point four zero four million euros, with short-term variable and long-term performance awards carrying the rest of the package. Staying with our World Cup ad tracking, Marketing Dive reports online betting accounted for just two percent of measured ad impressions during the tournament, despite sharp spending increases from Kalshi and Polymarket. On the platforms side, Google reports search and other revenues up seventeen percent in the second quarter, per Marketing Dive, with investor questions over AI costs shadowing the result. And finally, Campaign India reports independent agencies accounted for close to a third of all Cannes Lions entries this year, and placed four independent chief creative officers in jury rooms.