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| Mark Read |
WPP suffered a 10.2 percent drop in 1H revenues to $6.7B and a 47.8 percent plunge in operating profit to $297M.
Exiting CEO Mark Read, who headed WPP for seven years, said he’s “never seen a more volatile environment from a client perspective.”
The board slashed the interim dividend in half to 7.5p, and announced a review of strategy and capital allocation policy to be led by incoming CEO Cindy Rose, who takes the helm on Sept. 1.
The Microsoft alum is charged with driving sustainable growth supported by an appropriate level of financial flexibility while balancing returns to shareholders, according to Read.
He said WPP made “significant progress on the repositioning of WPP Media, simplifying its organizational model to increase effectiveness and reduce costs.”
WPP reduced its headcount by 7,000 people during the past year, which includes 1,400 staffers at FGS Global, which was sold to KKR. It now has 104K employees.
On the PR front, Burson reported a 7.8 percent revenue drop in Q2 compared to a 1.5 percent gain in 2024, due to the challenging environment for client discretionary spending.
WPP expects full-year 2025 revenues will slide in the three-to-five percent range.
Public Policy Holding Company grew 27.5 percent to $50.1M during Q1, powered by the accelerating contribution from recent acquisitions and a 5.1 percent hike in organic revenues across its three operating segments.
Institutional Shareholder Services advises investors to vote "no" on a compensation package for WPP chief Cindy Rose at the May 8 annual meeting.
FTI Consulting chalked up a 9.5 percent rise in Q1 revenues to $983.3M, powered by gains in its PR, corporate finance and technology segments.
Stagwell reports 4 percent growth in Q1 net revenues to $585M and a record $141M in net new business wins.
WPP reported a 6.7 percent drop to $3.1B in Q1 like-like revenues less pass-through costs. CEO Cindy Rose says 'it will take time to outpace historical losses."
