US turnaround for WPP
Marketing and communications giant WPP yesterday said it had seen its first monthly revenue growth in more than a year during the first quarter thanks to a marked turnaround in the US market.
WPP revealed that revenues rose 1 per cent in March – the first year-on-year growth since December 2008 – and said profits and operating
margins had been "well above" budget and against last year.
The group raised its revenue targets for the full year to 2 per cent on a like-for-like basis after previously guiding for turnover to be flat. Shares in WPP, which owns famous names such as Ogilvy & Mather and J Walter Thompson, lifted by more than 2 per cent as investors cheered further signs of a revival in the embattled advertising and communications industry.
WPP reported revenues of 2.1bn for the first quarter, flat against a year earlier on an underlying and like-for-like basis.