Omnicom first-quarter earnings rise 10 percent

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NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) - Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC.N), the world's largest advertising services company, said on Tuesday that quarterly profit rose more than 10 percent and beat expectations, helped by its focus on rapidly growing areas of marketing like China and the Internet.

Omnicom, home to advertising agencies such as BBDO Worldwide and DDB Worldwide, said first-quarter profit increased to $183 million, or $1.09 a share, from $165.7 million, or 93 cents a share, a year earlier.

Worldwide revenue rose nearly 11 percent to $2.84 billion.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $1.05 a share on revenue of $2.79 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Omnicom's revenue growth comes as the company has tried to position itself at home to take advantage of a shift by advertisers to unconventional marketing methods, such as Internet campaigns and special events. At the same time, it has has sought to move into hot geographic markets like India and China.

By region, however, the United States still made up the largest chunk of revenue at $1.54 billion, up 7.7 percent. International revenue increased nearly 15 percent to $1.3 billion.

Organic revenue, a closely watched industry benchmark that excludes foreign currency impact and recent acquisitions, rose 7.3 percent.

Analysts have said Omnicom could show robust growth over the coming quarters, thanks to economic growth, political spending and the 2008 Olympics.

Omnicom shares are up about 4 percent so far this year, and closed at $106.02 the New York Stock Exchange on Monday.

((Reporting by Paul Thomasch, editing by Lisa Von Ahn; Reuters Messaging: paul.thomasch.reuters.com@reuters.com, (646) 223-6092))

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