WPP records £3.4 billion revenue; 6.6 percent growth in India for Q1 2024

WPP has reported revenue of £3.4 billion in Q1 2024, down 1.4 percent from £3.5 billion in Q1 2023, and up 2.1 percent like-for-like. Revenue less pass-through costs was £2.7 billion, down 5.0 percent from £2.8 billion in Q1 2023, and down 1.6 percent like-for-like.

Q1 LFL revenue less pass-through costs were at -1.6 percent (Q1 2023: +2.9 percent), with growth in the UK and Western Continental Europe offset by declines in North America and Asia Pacific, which saw strong growth in India offset by a decline in China. Growth in India of 6.6 percent, reflecting last year’s strong new business momentum, was offset by a 15.4 percent decline in China, due to a challenging macro and client environment.

Mark Read, Chief Executive Officer of WPP, said, “The first quarter of 2024 was very much in line with our expectations with performance reflecting the toughest comparator of the year. Strategically, we have progressed well on the priorities set out at our Capital Markets Day at the end of January. We’ve rolled out multiple AI tools through our intelligent marketing operating system WPP Open, including the latest foundation models from Bria, Google and OpenAI, and at Google Cloud Next we launched our Performance Brain to predict the best-performing content ahead of campaigns going live. These products are being deployed at scale, together with investment in training for our people. WPP Open was also at the heart of our most recent new business successes, including major media wins with Nestlé.

“Structurally, VML is now well established and is on track to deliver savings. GroupM is progressing well with its simplification and Burson will be operational in July. I’m very pleased with the progress we are making and we are already seeing the benefits of a simpler and more agile structure for our clients. “Our outlook for the full year is reiterated. We remain on track to return to growth in the balance of the year, supported by an encouraging new business pipeline and the strength of our business creatively and in media, both powered by new AI capabilities, while our simpler structure will drive organisational flexibility and stronger cash conversion.”

GroupM saw growth in revenue less pass-through costs of 2.4 percent in Q1 (Q1 2023: +6.1%), with continued growth in client investment in media, partially offset by the impact of US client assignment losses from prior years and lower spending by technology clients.

BCW and Hill & Knowlton, which together will merge to form Burson in July, saw a combined decline due to the loss of Pfizer assignments and the impact of macroeconomic uncertainty on client spending. FGS Global grew against a tough comparison.

Specialist Agencies like Landor, Design Bridge and Partners, and a number of smaller specialist agencies continued to be affected by delays in project-based spending. CMI Media Group, our specialist healthcare media planning and buying agency, continued to grow well, building on strong prior year performance.