Publicis expects 2009 sales to fall - paper

PARIS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - France's Publicis (PUBP.PA) expects sales to drop this year, the world's fourth largest advertising group told the Financial Times newspaper.

Publicis Chief Executive Maurice Levy said growth in emerging market revenues and the group's digital business would not be sufficient to make up for a drop in sales from traditional activities.

"My objective is to compensate for nearly all of what the market is going to lose," Levy said in an interview published in the British newspaper on Tuesday.

"Realistically speaking, if we make up for a large part of what the market is going to lose, I will have done a good job."

Levy added he expected Publicis to outperform rivals and emerge stronger from the recession as it had done in each previous crisis.

He told the paper the slowdown could create takeover opportunities, adding he had received "at least one a day on average since September" but the group would look to make only modest purchases in digital advertising or emerging markets.

Levy said he expected Publicis' Internet advertising to grow at a double-digit rate this year and its Russian, Chinese and other emerging market operations to continue to expand, albeit at a slower rate in than in 2008.

In a separate interview with the French daily Le Figaro published on Tuesday, Levy said he expected advertising spend to drop between 5 to 6 percent in the United States this year while in Germany he forecast it could drop between 3 and 5 percent.

In contrast, advertising spend in China was set to rise 8 percent in 2009 and in India around 6 percent.

Publicis shares, which lost more than 30 percent over the past year, closed at 18.85 euros on Monday.

(editing by John Stonestreet)