WPP AUNZ's John "Steady" Steedman today outlined his plans for a turnaround and restructuring at the agency holding group.
The company in February posted a statutory loss of $17.1 million for 2018 on top of impairments, taking a hit to revenue from its Advertising, Media Investment Management segment.
"We know we can do better, and we are actively addressing the issues we faced in 2018 to deliver a sustainable performance," the company's interim CEO and executive director told the company's AGM in Sydney.
In 2018 the company’s net sales were $857 million, headline earnings before interest and tax of $121 million, delivering an operating margin of 14%.
"We are implementing a turnaround and restructuring strategy including financial investment and management changes to position the overall business for growth," he told shareholders.
"This strategy is progressing well. We commenced a restructure of specific creative and production units within the business to address underperformance and have streamlined shared services departments.
"We continue to simplify our structure through integrating agencies with complementary strengths and investing in WPP aligned businesses to build more meaningful scale.
"We’re simplifying our structure, focusing and investing in our core product offering and making it easier for our clients to navigate our portfolio."
Steedman says there’s no doubt that the advertising industry is facing structural change not structural decline.
"Like almost every other industry, we are however in the near term facing some economic headwinds, electoral uncertainty and responding to the realities of digital transformation," he says.
"We know that digital transformation is set to continue at an accelerated pace and so is the change in the way consumers utilise information, services and products."
Last month Steedman was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame at the 2018 Agency of the Year Awards.
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