WPP: shares slump, as results and forecasts disappoint

(CercleFinance.com) - WPP shares came under heavy attack on Thursday morning on the London Stock Exchange, after the company reported quarterly results below expectations, along with a disappointing outlook.


The British advertising group's shares are currently down over 16%, by far the biggest fall on the FTSE 100, which is just up 0.1% at the same time.

This morning, the communications giant reported a 2.3% LFL decline in sales, net of passed-on costs, for Q4.

The consensus expected organic growth of around 0.1%.

Although it claims to have recently won accounts from leading groups such as Amazon, J&J, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever, WPP refers in a press release to lower discretionary spending by its clients.

For its 2025 financial year, the group says it expects organic sales to be either flat or fall by up to 2%, with an improvement in performance expected in H2.

We believe that the earnings consensus will be revised downwards by around 5% as a result of these somewhat weak forecasts and the increase in its tax rate, UBS analysts commented.

The fact that business is expected to be mainly concentrated in the second half of the year should also be received unfavorably, they added.


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