WPP Boosts Outlook Following Robust Q3 Demand
LONDON (Reuters) – WPP, the world’s biggest advertising company, lifted its full-year underlying net sales guidance again on Thursday after third-quarter trading easily beat forecasts on demand from the United States, Britain and Germany.
WPP said its core metric, known as like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs, jumped 15.7% in the third quarter, well ahead of forecasts of 9.5% and almost 7% up on its performance in the same quarter of 2019, before the pandemic.
The British group raised its full-year outlook for growth to a range of 11.5% to 12%, from 9-10%.
WPP said in August it had returned to 2019 business levels a year ahead of plan as clients rushed to benefit from a global economic recovery from the pandemic.
“Our very strong performance goes well beyond a cyclical recovery, with like-for-like growth over 2019 at 6.9% in the quarter,” Chief Executive Mark Read said.
“Clients across all sectors and geographies are making significant investments in marketing, particularly in digital media and ecommerce services.”
(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Alistair Smout and Jason Neely)
