Notícia: Update: Publicis Ceo: Still Confident For Rest Of Year (MSFT)

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By Ruth Bender and William Horobin

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

PARIS -(Dow Jones)- French advertising company Publicis Groupe SA's (PUB.FR) chief executive Friday said he is still confident for the rest of 2009 because the advertising market isn't deteriorating.

"Things are improving very slowly but progressively...The good news is that there has been no further deterioration of the [advertising] market so far in the second half of the year," Maurice Levy said, speaking on French radio station BFM Radio.

Levy also said that the recovery of the advertising market will be a gradual but steady one.

The chief executive in early September said that Publicis passed the nadir of the current downturn at the end of June.

He added that the acquisition of Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) digital agency Razorfish, which the group announced in August, should be finalized in the coming weeks.

Radio Web site: www.bfmradio.com

-By Ruth Bender and William Horobin, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 4017 1740; ruth.bender@dowjones.com