WPP reports 1H EPS 30.9p vs.33.1 last year

Reports 1H revenue GBP 5.6 vs 5.8 last year …”At our Capital Markets Day earlier this year we set out our strategy to build on and improve the competitiveness of WPP‘s offer. I am very pleased with the progress we have made in the past six months against each of our strategic objectives, particularly our continued investment in AI, the creation of VML and Burson, and the simplification of GroupM. We are strengthening our offer for clients while building a more efficient company. “Our second quarter performance delivered sequential improvement in net sales10 with continued growth in GroupM, Ogilvy and Hogarth and sequential improvement at Burson, VML and our Specialist Agencies. Importantly, we also saw North America return to growth in the second quarter. That said, we have seen pressure in China and in our project-related businesses which, together with an uncertain macro environment, has led us to moderate our expectations for the full-year. “The sale of our stake in FGS Global is an excellent outcome less than four years after its creation from three separate businesses within WPP. It will allow us to focus and invest in our core creative transformation offer while significantly strengthening our financial position. “As a team, our priority continues to be improving our competitiveness by delivering a modern, global, creative and integrated offer for our clients. The steps we have taken since January to integrate our offer, bring in new talent and invest in AI represent strong progress towards delivering on our medium-term financial targets and to shareholders.”