WPP upbeat as US begins to ‘bite back’
WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell yesterday proclaimed “America is biting back” as the advertising giant raised full-year revenue forecasts.
He said that the US was leading a recovery in demand with a “spectacular” bounce-back, with further boosts expected from the month-long football World Cup this summer.
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The company, whose clients include Vodafone and Ford, said the US, which is responsible for about a third of the group’s turnover, saw revenues rise by 3.2 per cent to £754million as those for WPP as a whole lifted 0.5 per cent to £2.1billion for the quarter to March. Its shares rose 6½p to 698p.
Sorrell admitted he was being cautious with his growth forecasts after he got it wrong last year, where revenues dropped eight per cent against a forecast decline of two per cent. “We made a bit of a mess of it,” he said, adding WPP was three per cent ahead in the first quarter of what it had predicted.
He said there had been a marked change in client attitudes, with customers prepared to spend more on advertising having avoided the “ Armageddon” feared from the financial crisis at the start of 2009.
“There is more focus on how to achieve top-line growth rather on just cutting costs,” he said. The company has also started hiring again in some divisions after slashing the workforce last year.