NEW YORK--Omnicom, the owner of PR agencies FleishmanHillard, Ketchum and Porter Novelli, grew its PR revenues by 2.9 percent in the first half of this year.

The group's results, reported today, revealed that PR earnings reached $654.5m in the first half of this year. On an organic basis, that represented growth of 2.9 percent compared to 1H 2012, while reported growth reached four percent.

Omnicom grew its PR revenues by 3.8 percent, on an organic basis, in the second quarter of this year, an improvement on the 1.9 percent growth it recorded in 1Q 2013.

Yesterday, the Holmes Report revealed that Omnicom's DAS division had hired ex-J&J comms VP Steve Dnistrian to a senior operational role across its various PR agencies.

Overall, the group grew revenue by 2.4 percent in the year-to-date, while operating income improved by three percent.