Credit: Luay Barani via Unsplash
WPP’s efforts to restore profitability, following a series of client losses, are having a more immediate impact than originally forecast.
Net sales growth has been better than analysts expected at -2.8% in the June quarter versus -6.7% in the three months to March.
But the progress to return to organic growth comes at a cost. Profit margins in the second half of the year are expected to be shaved by restructuring costs, incentive rebuilding and new investment.
WPP expects revenue to fall by low-to-mid single digits in the second half of 2026. For the full year, that would mean a decline of about 4%.
The company, suffering the effects this year of client losses in 2025, has been having a better run with pitches in 2026.
In the final quarter of 2025, WPP was number one in J.P. Morgan’s net new business rankings for the first time since 2020.
And WPP topped the rankings for net new business for the first half of 2026 and for the nine months to the end of June 2026.
Wins include The Estée Lauder Companies, Jaguar Land Rover, Henkel, Just Eat, Bet365, Fuze Tea, Airbnb, SC Johnson, Wendy’s, Heineken and Honda.
“These are integrated, multidisciplinary mandates awarded to WPP as one team,” Rose told analysts in a briefing.
“This is the direct result of the strategic changes we’ve made to our client proposition.”
However, the market is “fiercely” competitive.
“We’re not going to win them all, and frankly, we don’t need to win them all,” she said.
“We take every loss as a learning opportunity. I think that’s what a growth mindset’s all about. It helps us drive a culture of continuous improvement.
“Sometimes it’s just a personal preference. Sometimes it’s a preexisting relationship. It’s hard to say, but we take the losses every single time. We take them as learning opportunities, and we go deep to try to understand and improve for the next time.”
Rose said the Elevate28 plan has just passed its first stage in stabilising the business.
“As I approach my one-year anniversary in this role, I am encouraged by our performance in the first half,” she said.
“We’re on track. I continue to be optimistic about WPP’s future. I think with the organisational structure and operating model now in place, the focus for us now is on successfully delivering the stabilised phase over the balance of the year.”
She sees “steady” improvements across the company.
“As part of Elevate28, we aligned on a new company purpose to be the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands,” she said.
“To fulfill this new purpose, we announced four strategic objectives: to deliver superior growth for clients, to become a simpler, more integrated company, to unlock the advantage of WPP Open, our agentic marketing platform, and to create firm financial foundations for the future.
“We also outlined a detailed execution plan that spans three distinct phases.
“The priority in 2026 has been to stabilise the business, make the structural changes needed, and strengthen our execution.
“The next phase is to build on these foundations, returning the company to growth sometime during 2027.
“The third phase will be accelerating our growth so we can win our share of a growing market from 2028 and beyond. The building blocks of the new strategy are now firmly in place.”
WPP is moving from a holding company to a single company model with four operating units: Creative, Media, Production and Enterprise Solutions.
“Today, we are a simpler, more integrated company, but our work is by no means complete,” Rose said.
“Our focus remains firmly on execution and delivering against the commitments that we’ve made to our clients, employees, and investors.
“The journey ahead won’t be linear. There will undoubtedly be ups and downs along the way.
“I’m confident that we are on the right path and setting WPP up for sustainable success well into the future.”
Rose has a target of GBP 500 million of gross annualised cost savings across the next three years.
The savings will be reinvested into growth areas, including media and enterprise solutions.
Rose is also ditching non-core assets.
In the first half of 2026, WPP completed more than 15 non-core asset disposals that will generate more than GBP 200 million in 2026.
A slide from the June quarter 2026 presentation to analysts:
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