Interpublic Group, owners of agency networks including McCann, Draftfcb and Lowe + Partners, has announced a first quarter operating loss of $42.4 million, compared to a loss of $39.4 million a year ago. The Q1 2013 total net loss was $59.2 million compared to $45.9 million a year ago.
The information was contained in its First Quarter 2013 results released on Friday.
First quarter 2013 revenue was $1.54 billion, compared to $1.51 billion in the first quarter of 2012, with an organic revenue increase of 2.3% 
compared to the prior-year period. This was comprised of an organic revenue increase of 4.9% internationally and 0.5% in the U.S.
During the first quarter of 2013, salaries and related expenses were $1.13 billion, an increase of 2.5% compared to the same period in 2012. Staff cost ratio, which is total salaries and related expenses as a percentage of total revenue, was 73.4% in the first quarter of 2013 compared to 73.3% in the same period in 2012.
At March 31, 2013, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totalled $1.65 billion, compared to $2.59 billion at December 31, 2012 and $1.59 billion at March 31, 2012. Total debt was $2.23 billion at March 31, 2013, compared to $2.45 billion at December 31, 2012.
Omnicom (which owns BBDO, DDB and TBWA) has also released its Q1 2013 financials. Omnicom’s net income for the first quarter of 2013 increased to $205.1 million from $204.6 million in the first quarter of 2012.
Worldwide revenue increased 2.8% to $3,398.9 million from $3,307.3 million in the first quarter of 2012. US revenue for the first quarter of 2013 increased 4.2% to $1,791.6 million compared to $1,719.3 million in the first quarter of 2012. International revenue increased 1.2% to $1,607.3 million compared to $1,588.0 million in the first quarter of 2012.
Publicis Groupe’s consolidated revenue for the first quarter of 2013 was 1,563 million euro, up 7.6% from 1,452 million for the same period in 2012. The impact of exchange rates was a negative 19 million euro, i.e. 1.2% of revenue. It achieved organic growth of 1.3%. Its operations in Europe (excluding Russia and Turkey) saw a sharp decline (-6.5% after +3.6% in Q1 2012) while it experienced positive growth in North America (+4.4%) and in the BRIC+MISSAT countries (+5.5%). Digital activities also posted strong growth (+8.5%).
Publicis owns networks such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnett and Publicis Worldwide.
The vast majority of operations in Europe recorded negative growth, including Germany (-4.8%), the UK (-6.1%), France (-11.3%), Spain (-13.1%) and Italy (-13.7%). Central Europe grew by 3.8%. China (+15.2%), India (+10.7%) and Russia (+5.7%) all grew.