NEW YORK: Interpublic Group, which owns Weber Shandwick and GolinHarris, grew its PR revenues by 5.6 percent in the first quarter of 2012.

The increase came as the CMG unit, which houses its PR firms, increased earnings by 8.6 percent on an organic basis.

CMG and Weber Shandwick CEO Harris Diamond pointed to growth in US and Asia, and said that Europe remained “stable.” He also noted increasing demand for content creation and social media services.

“It continues to be a good business to be in,” said Diamond of the PR industry. “I’m obviously cautious because of the storm clouds over Europe, but we continue to find clients needing the services we have to offer, that in the past we didn’t have the opportunity to pitch for.”

Diamond also played down any concern that the pharmaceutical “patent cliff” would negatively impact healthcare PR revenues. “Healthcare continues to be a good business,” he said. “We’ve had to branch away from the big pharmaceutical companies, but there is growth in medical and consumer education, medical devices, and government spending.”