WPP revises down full-year outlook
WPP nudged down its full-year outlook today after cautious customers demanded better value for money from the world’s largest advertising group in the second quarter of the year.
The slight change in tone from WPP’s large client base meant the group posted revenues up 3.6 per cent on the all-important metric of a like-for-like basis, below analyst expectations of four per cent, after growth slowed in July.
Martin Sorrell’s firm said it had benefited from increased advertising and promotional spending across most of its major geographic and functional sectors, but it said clients continued to demand increased effectiveness and efficiency.
Revenue growth slowed in north America and Western Europe in the second quarter but improved in Britain, while Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and central and eastern Europe remained the strongest markets.
Overall, the group slightly lowered its full-year outlook, after raising it in April. WPP said then that it expected like-for-like revenue to rise by more than four per cent, having previously forecast growth of around four per cent. It said today that it now saw a slight reduction in that forecast.
It had estimated new business of £2.48bn in the first half of the year, more than double that in the first half of last year.