WPP reports 6.6% growth in India Q1 FY2024

WPP has reported revenue of £3.4 billion in Q1 2024, down 1.4% from £3.5 billion in Q1 2023, and up 2.1% like-for-like. Revenue less pass-through costs was £2.7 billion, down 5.0% from £2.8 billion in Q1 2023, and down 1.6% like-for-like.

Q1 LFL revenue less pass-through costs were at -1.6% (Q1 2023: +2.9%), with growth in the UK and Western Continental Europe offset by declines in North America and Asia Pacific, which saw strong growth in India offset by a decline in China.

Global Integrated Agencies revenue less pass-through costs declined 0.7%, with 2.4% growth in GroupM offset by a 3.3% decline at integrated creative agencies with the loss of assignments at a healthcare client and reduced spend at technology companies.

New client assignment wins from AstraZeneca, Canon, Molson Coors, Daiichi Sankyo, Nestlé, Perfetti, Perrigo, Rightmove and Telefónica led to Q1 2024 net new billings of $0.8 billion, as against $1.5 billion in Q1 2023.

Global Integrated Agencies

GroupM, WPP’s media planning and buying business, saw growth in revenue less pass-through costs of 2.4% in Q1 (Q1 2023: +6.1%), with continued growth in client investment in media, partially offset by the impact of US client assignment losses from prior years and lower spending by technology clients.

Other Global Integrated Agencies declined 3.3% (Q1 2023: +0.7%), also impacted by lower year-on-year spending by technology clients and the first full quarter impact of the loss of Pfizer creative assignments. Against that backdrop, VML and AKQA declined in the quarter, with continued growth at Hogarth and Ogilvy, supported by recent client wins.

Public Relations

BCW and Hill & Knowlton, which together will merge to form Burson in July, saw a combined decline due to the loss of Pfizer assignments and the impact of macroeconomic uncertainty on client spending. FGS Global grew against a tough comparison.

Regional review

North America had a challenging quarter as expected, declining 5.2% due to a year-on-year reduction in spend from technology clients, the loss of Pfizer at our creative agencies, and client assignment losses at GroupM. We continue to expect our strategic actions to drive improved performance in the region across the balance of 2024.

The United Kingdom grew 0.3% against a tough comparison (Q1 2023: +7.4%) with growth in CPG offsetting declines in technology client spend. Western Continental Europe saw strength in France and Spain offset by a decline in Germany.

Rest of World declined 0.6% primarily due to a decline in Asia Pacific of 3.2%. Growth in India of 6.6%, reflecting last year’s strong new business momentum, was offset by a 15.4% decline in China, due to a challenging macro and client environment.

There was continued growth in Latin America (+2.3%) and Middle East & Africa (+7.8%). Central & Eastern Europe was flat (-0.1%).

Commenting on the Q1 2024 performance, Mark Read, Chief Executive Officer of WPP, said: “The first quarter of 2024 was very much in line with our expectations with performance reflecting the toughest comparator of the year. Strategically, we have progressed well on the priorities set out at our Capital Markets Day at the end of January. We’ve rolled out multiple AI tools through our intelligent marketing operating system WPP Open, including the latest foundation models from Bria, Google and OpenAI, and at Google Cloud Next we launched our Performance Brain to predict the best-performing content ahead of campaigns going live. These products are being deployed at scale, together with investment in training for our people. WPP Open was also at the heart of our most recent new business successes, including major media wins with Nestlé.”

“Structurally, VML is now well established and is on track to deliver savings. GroupM is progressing well with its simplification and Burson will be operational in July. I’m very pleased with the progress we are making and we are already seeing the benefits of a simpler and more agile structure for our clients,” he added.

Read further said, “Our outlook for the full year is reiterated. We remain on track to return to growth in the balance of the year, supported by an encouraging new business pipeline and the strength of our business creatively and in media, both powered by new AI capabilities, while our simpler structure will drive organisational flexibility and stronger cash conversion.”