Advertising giant WPPQ3 resumes growth and maintains full-year performance guidance
The world's largest advertising group WPP announced its third-quarter performance for 2024, with revenue of 2.765 billion pounds, a year-on-year increase of 0.5%, better than expected. Despite short-term trading difficulties, WPP maintains its full-year performance guidance, expecting revenue growth to be between -1% and 0%. CEO Mark Read pointed out that the luxury, automotive, and fast-moving consumer goods industries are facing macro pressures, but revenue from the top ten clients and the technology sector clients has increased. WPP's stock price rose nearly 4% in pre-market trading on the US stock market
According to the financial news app Zhitong Finance, the world's largest advertising group WPP (WPP.US) has announced its third-quarter performance for 2024. The financial report shows that WPP's Q3 revenue, excluding pass-through costs, was £2.765 billion, a year-on-year increase of 0.5%, surpassing analysts' general expectation of a 0.1% year-on-year decline. It is reported that this closely watched indicator has resumed growth momentum, mainly benefiting from higher spending by larger clients and stable performance in advertising spending by clients in the technology sector.
However, WPP CEO Mark Read stated, "In the short term, trading remains challenging, especially for WPP. We work with many luxury, automotive, and fast-moving consumer goods companies, all of which are facing some macro and competitive pressures." He added that the outlook for U.S. consumers is more complex, with continued pressure in the lower-end market, "companies that have been too aggressive on pricing are finding the market a bit challenging."
WPP stated that revenue, excluding pass-through costs, generated by its top ten clients grew by 7% in the third quarter, while revenue, excluding pass-through costs, from clients in the technology sector grew by 1.3% in the third quarter.
WPP still expects revenue, excluding pass-through costs, for the full year of 2024 to grow between -1% and 0%. Mark Read said, "We are encouraged by the progress in the third quarter, but as the new business won recently will mainly impact 2025, and macroeconomic pressures persist, our expectations for the entire year remain unchanged."
As of the time of publication, WPP's pre-market trading on Wednesday in the U.S. rose nearly 4%