WPP
PLC is the latest advertising holding company to show signs of recovery from the global pandemic and reports that some customers have increased spending following the austerity measures earlier this year.
WPP, whose portfolio of creative agency group VMLY&R and media giant GroupM includes, reported sales of £2.97 billion ($3.84 billion) in the third quarter, exceeding expectations by £2.3 billion, FactSet reports.
QoQ revenues on a comparable basis, excluding the effects of acquisitions, disposals and acquisition costs, decreased by 7.6% year-on-year. This is lower than the decrease of 15.1% in the second quarter. In North America, net travel revenues were down 5.1% compared to a 10.2% year-on-year decline in the second quarter.
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We’ve seen a huge recovery in most sectors, especially in public relations, and when GroupM customers started spending more money on the media, Mark Read, WPP Executive Director, said in an interview.
We see the best momentum in new business, but like everyone else we look at what is happening in the world and in the fourth quarter we are a little cautious, he added.
While this represents only a portion of the company’s digital revenues, WPP’s automated digital advertising group, Xaxis, showed promising annual revenue growth of 12 percent in the third quarter, compared to a 30 percent decline in the second quarter, Reed said. He attributed the blow to customers looking for immediate productivity gains after a difficult year.
The WPP has recently received orders from, amongst others, Uber, Alibaba, Intel, Unilever and Whirlpool, as indicated in the company’s results report.
WPP shares fell 1.14% to $38.95 compared to mid-morning.
A company that had fallen heavily into debt in recent years was confronted with the need to simplify its structure. Mr Reed, who took over the company in 2018, merged several large companies and sold most of the data communications company Kantar.
Going forward, the WPP will focus on growth through organic revenue and acquisitions, Reed said. The Company is considering potential acquisitions to strengthen its commercialization technology capabilities, including helping its customers collaborate with companies such as
Salesforce.com Inc.
и
Adobe Inc,
and develop his e-commerce skills, he said.
WPP is the last of the major advertising companies to report revenues for the third quarter.
Intergovernmental Group
Because the Omnicom Inc. group and
Publicis Groupe SA
showed signs of a resumption of the pandemic, but warned that this would continue to affect the results.
Write to Alexandre Bruell at [email protected].
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