Cindy Rose, the new CEO of WPP, described as “unacceptable “ September quarter revenue falling 3.5% to £3.259 billion on a like-for-like basis.
The global advertising group has downgraded its full year guidance, now expecting like-for-like growth in revenue less pass-through costs of -5.5% to -6%, a deterioration from -3% to -5%.
Performance in the September quarter included a fall in WPP Media compared to the June quarter, according to a trading update lodged in London.
Year-to-date reported revenue is down 8% and 2.8% on a like-for-like basis.
In Australia, like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs was -8.5% for the September quarter. In the UK it was 8.9% and North America -6%.
“There is a lot to do, and it will take time to see the impact, but in my first 60 days we are already moving at pace with some initiatives already announced and more to come,” Rose said.
“We know what it takes to win: we are optimistic, energised and confident that we’re building the right plan and the right culture to secure a bright future for WPP, our people, our clients."
Rose said her ambition is for WPP to lead the industry in terms of innovation, client delivery and organic growth.
“However, I acknowledge that our recent performance is unacceptable and we are taking action to address this,” she said.
“We have strong foundations and the ingredients needed to succeed.
“We have amazing long-standing clients that represent the largest, most well-known brands in the world, strong capabilities and world-class talent that spans media, production and creative, some of the most consequential agency brands in the market, unrivalled global scale and reach, and market-leading technology and technology partnerships that give us a real competitive edge. This is an exciting platform to build on.
“To deliver performance improvements, we will position our offering to be much simpler, more integrated, powered by data and AI, efficiently priced and designed to deliver growth and business outcomes for our clients.
“We will significantly improve our execution, strengthening our go-to-market and dramatically simplifying how we organise ourselves internally, as well as building a high-performance team culture.
“We will expand our addressable market by pushing harder into enterprise and technology solutions.
“And finally, we will take a disciplined approach to capital allocation with a focus on cost efficiency and maintaining a strong balance sheet while prioritising the parts of our business where we can deliver the greatest shareholder value.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.