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| Mark Read |
WPP chalked up 8.7 percent growth in first-half like-for-like revenues to $8.2B, driven by part by a resurgence in demand for strategic communications advice from its PR firms, according to CEO Mark Read.
The PR group registered 10.5 percent growth to $654M from the year-ago period and an 18.7 percent surge from the 2020 period. Operating profit jumped 31.7 percent to $99.6M
CEO Mark Read told O’Dwyer’s the PR growth was across the board at Hill+Knowlton Strategies, BCW, Ogilvy PR and FGS Global.
“The breadth and depth at our offer, from consumer to corporate PR as well as the growing importance to strategic communications for clients, is reflected in the strong, structural outperformance we’ve seen over the past three years,” he said. “All credit to our people and leaders in our PR firms for this performance.”
Read said clients continue to invest in WPP services due to the company’s attractive industry exposure in technology and healthcare, its broad global footprint, and the importance of what it does for their businesses.
He projects full-year growth of six to seven percent.
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