WPP’s June quarter results revealed more losses, driven by past account losses, but the global advertising company sees progress on its turnaround.
Revenue less pass-through costs in the June quarter was down 2.3% to £2.485 billion on a reported basis and 2.8% like-for-like.
The company said performance benefited particularly from an improvement in trend at WPP Media compared to the first quarter, as well as the impact of easing comparisons.
In Australia, revenue less pass-through costs was down 4.7%.
“I am encouraged by our first-half performance which is in line with our expectations,” said CEO Cindy Rose.
“While legacy account losses continue to weigh, Q2 (June quarter) saw a further sequential improvement in LFL (like-for-like) growth, highlighting the momentum we are building across the company and demonstrating that our strategy to become the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands is beginning to deliver.
“We are firmly on track with Phase 1 of our Elevate28 plan to stabilise the business. Our objective for the first half was to put in place the building blocks of the new organisational structure and this is now complete.
“We are successfully transitioning from a complex holding company to a single, integrated company – with four operating units across four regions, all underpinned by WPP Open, our agentic marketing platform, which enables and connects everything we do.
“Organic growth remains our North Star.
“While the turnaround of our financial performance will take time to fully flow through, our strong new business wins and improved client retention, as well as progress on cost savings and portfolio actions, demonstrate that we are building a simpler, more competitive and higher-performing WPP.”
For the half year, revenue was down 4.4% to £6.373 billion on a reported basis and down 3.2% like-for-like. Revenue less pass-through costs was down 4.7% to £4.745 billion like-for-like.
Elevate28 is WPP's turnaround plan, targeting a return to organic growth by 2027 through £500 million in cost cuts, back-office mergers, and shifting from a traditional holding company into four core operating units.
Staff numbers at the global business were 99,000 at the end of 2025, down more than 8% from 108,000 the year before.
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