26th Oct 2022 09:07
(Alliance News) - WPP PLC on Wednesday lifted annual top-line guidance after a strong rise in third-quarter revenue.
The London-based advertising agency said its third-quarter revenue rose 10% to GBP3.57 billion from GBP3.24 billion a year earlier, with like-for-like revenue up 2.7%.
Its revenue less pass-through costs increased 13% to GBP2.99 billion from GBP2.64 billion.
Revenue less pass-through costs in North America jumped by 26% to GBP1.22 billion from GBP975 million.
WPP said it won USD1.7 billion net new business during the quarter, and USD5.1 billion net in the year-to-date.
Revenue in the year-to-date rose 10% to GBP10.33 billion from GBP9.37 billion a year ago, with like-for-like revenue up 6.6%. Its revenue less pass-through costs increased by 13% to GBP8.50 billion from GBP7.54 billion.
Chief Executive Mark Read said the firm "continues to show strong momentum".
Looking ahead, WPP upgraded its full-year like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to 6.5% to 7.0%, compared to a previously expected range of 6.0% to 7.0%. Less positively, it said it expects headline operating margin growth between 30 to 50 basis points. It had previously guided for growth of 50 bps.
WPP said it has "continued to invest in our people and in data and technology to support" growth, keeping a lid on margins.
However, CEO Read added: "We are on track with the GBP300 million transformation savings and will continue to manage our costs with discipline."
In August, WPP said pretax profit rose 6.3% to GBP419 million for the six months that ended on June 30, from GBP394 million a year earlier. Revenue increased 10% to GBP6.76 billion from GBP6.13 billion.
Shares were down 3.2% at 745.20 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.
By Xindi Wei; [email protected]
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