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WPP closed the year with like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs down 1%, with more drag in the December quarter from “weaker” client spend and a darker outlook for 2025.
Shares in the UK-based global advertising group fell more than 16% to 645.20 pence, a four year low, as investors reacted to the worse than expected outlook.
WPP expects full year growth in 2025 to continue to be negative at -2%.
In the December quarter, like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs was down 2.3% with growth in Western Continental Europe +1.4% offset by declines in North America -1.4%, UK -5.1% and Rest of World -4.8%, including -21.2% in China.
Australia dropped 1.7% for the December quarter, a fall from the 2.3% lift in the three months to September.
Globally, media planning business GroupM was up 2.7% for the year and 2.4% in the December quarter.
However, global "Integrated Agencies" fell -0.8% in the year and -2.2% in the December quarter. "Other" global Integrated Agencies fell -3.9% and -6.5% in the December quarter.
Many of WPP's peers, despite difficulty in comparing metrics between holding groups, appear to be doing better. Omnicom sees 4% to 5% growth in 2025, Publicis 4% to 5% after 5.8% in 2024 and dentsu 1% after a flat 2024. IPG forecasts a fall of 1% to 2%.
In an interview with the Financial Times, WPP CEO Mark Read said there were concerns among clients over the impact of president Donald Trump in the White House and risks of a trade war.
“Our clients are concerned about tariffs," he reportedly said. "There’s a sort of degree of optimism around deregulation and the impact on the US economy [but] consumers, particularly in the US, are concerned about inflation. So we’re naturally concerned. We need to be prepared for a somewhat tougher year.”
Read, in a formal statement on earnings, said WPP achieved significant progress against strategy in 2024 with the creation of VML, Burson and the simplification of GroupM, some 70% of WPP's business.
“We sold our stake in FGS Global to create significant value for shareholders," he said. "And we increased our margin, while stepping up our investment in AI through WPP Open, which is now used by 33,000 people across WPP.
“The top line was lower, however, with Q4 impacted by weaker client discretionary spend. We did see growth from our top 25 clients of 2% and an improving new business performance in the second half of the year with wins from Amazon, J&J, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever reflecting the strength of our integrated offer.
“The actions we are taking across WPP will strengthen our existing client relationships and drive our new business results. We expect some improvement in the performance of our integrated creative agencies in the year ahead.
"At the same time, we have comprehensive efforts underway to improve our competitive positioning through new leadership at GroupM, with further investment in AI, data and proprietary media.
“Though we remain cautious given the overall macro environment, we are confident in our medium-term targets and believe our focus on innovation, a simpler client-facing offer and operational excellence will support our growth and deliver greater value for our shareholders.”
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