- David Gianatasio

BOSTON Buoyed by a $12 million-plus capital gain on the disposal of McKinney and continuing a positive trend stretching back more than a year, Havas today reported a 40 percent increase in its first-half net income to approximately $72 million compared to the same period a year ago.

McKinney, an ad shop in Durham, N.C., bought itself back from the Paris-based holding company in June. Havas' other major holdings are Arnold, Euro RSCG and MPG.

The company today also said its operating margin for the first six months of 2008 was 12 percent, compared to 10.3 percent during the same stretch last year.

The upbeat results had been expected, as Havas last month reported a record 8 percent first-half organic revenue gain to about $1.184 billion.

All operating regions enjoyed a solid half: Asia-Pacific grew 18 percent, Europe, 8 percent, Latin-America, 7.5 percent and North America, 6.5 percent. Net new business for the half was approximately $1.78 billion.

Havas has injected a note of caution for the rest of the year, however, noting that the impact of Dell's departure will be reflected in the next round of Asia-Pacific numbers.

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