But the group, headed by chairman and interim chief executive John Napier, reiterated its stance that it does not expect any upturn in revenue in the second half of the year. This mirrors an earlier announcement it made in August.
In today's interim management statement, the group, which also owns digital agency Diffiniti, said group organic revenue was down 10.8% compared to the previous year. Aegis Media, its core business, was down 10.4%. Synovate, its market research arm, was down 11.5% over the period.
The group said recent new business wins would help the company going into 2010. It said that year-to-date new business wins totalled $2.4bn, including Kellogg's, Société Générale and Nokia.
The group said Synovate had benefited from a strong sales order book at the end of the third quarter this year.
Commenting on the results, Napier said: " Our strategy to perform resiliently in a downturn has continued to deliver and we are pleased to confirm further progress in a difficult and challenging market environment."
Seperately, at a conference in Barcelona, Napier was questioned about long-standing speculation over whether Aegis would merge with its rival, French advertising group Havas.
Napier claimed there was no substance to the speculation.
The biggest shareholder in Aegis is Vincent Bolloré, who is also the chairman of Havas.
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