Universal Registration Document 2025

Board of directors

Justification of Assessments - Key Audit Matters

In accordance with the requirements of Articles L.821-53 and R.821-180 of the French Commercial Code (Code de commerce) relating to the justification of our assessments, we inform you of the key audit matters relating to risks of material misstatement that, in our professional judgment, were of most significance in our audit of the financial statements of the current period, as well as how we addressed those risks.

These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the financial statements as a whole and in forming our opinion thereon, and we do not provide a separate opinion on specific items of the financial statements.

Valuation of investments

Section « Investments and other financial assets » of the Note 2 « Accounting policies and methods » and Section 9.3 « Long-term equity investments » of the Note 9 « Non-current assets » to the notes to the financial statements.

Valuation of investments
Key audit point

As of December 31, 2025, investments are accounted for at a net book value of euro 5,600 million, or 85 % of the total assets.

We have identified the valuation of investments as a key audit matter given their material impact in the balance sheet of Publicis Groupe SA, and due to the judgments exercised by management in developing the assumptions and estimates used to determine their value in use.
Our audit response
  • We examined management’s process to determine the value in use of Publicis Groupe SA’s investments as well as the valuations performed by management with the support of an independent expert.
  • We compared the figures used for the impairment tests on investments with the underlying data of Publicis Groupe SA’s subsidiaries, as well as with the results of our audit work.

  • We examined:

    • the main assumptions used in the budget forecasts retained and approved by financial management, including the 2026 figures being derived from the annual budget presented to the Board of Directors,
    • the budget forecasts compared with actual results of prior years,
    • the compliance of shareholders’ equity with the financial statements of the subsidiaries and, where applicable, the documentation supporting adjustments made to these shareholders’ equity figures.

  • We involved our valuation experts to:

    • assess the compliance of the methodologies applied and test the reliability of the valuation models used,
    • examine the levels of multiples retained when value in use is determined using a market multiples approach.
  • We assessed the appropriateness of the information related to the valuation of investments disclosed in the notes to the annual financial statements.