WPP to review strategy following poor Q2 performance
WPP has suffered greatly in Q2, with a 5.8% decline in like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs (RLPTC) to AU$5.24 billion (£2.54 billion). RLPTC is the WPP metric that comes closest to other holdcos’ organic revenue.
Q2 total revenue was down 10.4% to AU$7.05 billion (£3.42 billion), and revenue less pass-through costs was down 12.6%. These were like-for-like declines of 4% and 5.8%, respectively. The reason the percentages differ so greatly is that in the LFL numbers, WPP strips out the effects of currency, acquisitions and disposals.
Outgoing CEO Mark Read said Q2’s slump was due to “pressures on client spending and a slower new business environment”.
He said: “We have, however, made significant progress on the repositioning of WPP Media, simplifying its organisational model to increase effectiveness and reduce costs. Meanwhile, the acquisition of InfoSum, the launch of Open Intelligence and the continued adoption of WPP Open all strengthen our data and technology capabilities.”
Outgoing CEO Mark Read
Read’s time as CEO has not been without controversy. In April, he sent an email to staff globally mandating they work from the office at least four days a week. This included a non-negotiable requirement of two Fridays per month.
This mandate was met with widespread criticism from unhappy staffers across markets. The day after the announcement, some “concerned” WPP employees launched a petition against the mandate, saying such a “rigid work regime” had mental and social impacts.
Under his leadership, the holdco has undertaken serious consolidation in recent years.
In 2023, the network announced the merger of its creative agencies VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson, bringing the VML name out of retirement. Shortly after, it revealed plans to merge its communication agencies Hill & Knowlton and BCW, to form Burson. The name also returned to the WPP stable after retiring in early 2018 when it was merged with Cohn & Wolfe.
In late 2024, it also wholly acquired T&Pm, which was born out of a partnership between The&Partnership and mSix&Partners. T&Pm has gone heavy on AI, and makes extensive use of WPP Open, the holdco’s AI operating system.
Most recently, WPP retired the GroupM brand and introduced WPP Media, a consolidated version of the media arm. WPP’s media agencies Mindshare, Wavemaker, and Essencemediacom continue as dedicated brands within WPP Media, which also has an integrated media, data, and production offering.
When broken down, Q2’s poor performance came more so from the creative and PR divisions, which dropped 7.2% and 7.8%, respectively. WPP Media declined by 4.7%.
By geography, North America declined by 4.6%, UK by 6.5%, Western Continental Europe by 6.5%, and the rest of the world by 6.8%. The Chinese market had the most significant drop of 15.9% in Q2.
This meant H1 revenue was down 7.8% to AU$13.74 million (£6.63 million).
WPP has therefore had to slash staff bonuses, shed thousands of staff, halve dividends, and has said incoming CEO Cindy Rose will review its strategy.
“The Board is declaring an interim dividend of 7.5p ahead of a review of the strategy and future capital allocation policy which will be led by Cindy Rose, who succeeds me as CEO on 1 September. The priority is to drive sustainable growth supported by an appropriate level of financial flexibility while balancing returns to shareholders,” Read said.
The holdco has shaved its headcount by 3.7%, or approximately 7,000 employees, since the start of the year. Staff costs in H1 were therefore down 7.5%.
Elsewhere, Publicis Groupe continues to be the star performer, with 5.9% organic growth credited to an “unprecedented new business run” in the first six months of the year, including Coca-Cola, Nespresso, Lego, Paramount, and Spotify. In total, the group secured AU$8 billion (€4.46 billion) in new business in H1.
Omnicom reported a 3% organic revenue growth in Q2. Broken down by discipline, year-on-year growth was 8.2% for media and advertising; 5% for precision marketing; 2.9% for experiential; and 1.5% for execution and support. This growth was partially offset by declines of 9.3% for public relations, 4.9% for healthcare, and 16.9% for branding and retail commerce.
Havas had “another quarter of growth acceleration”, with 2.6% organic growth and net revenue reaching AU$1.24 billion (€697 million) in Q2. Broken down, 36% of that came from Havas Media, 41% from Havas Creative, and 23% from Havas Health.
Meanwhile, IPG reported a 3.5% drop, which CEO Philippe Krakowsky said was “in line with expectations”. The decline was atrributed to “prior-year client account activity”. IPG reported AU$3.87 billion (US$2.54 billion) in total revenue for Q2, down from AU$4.14 billion (US$2.71 billion) in the same period last year.
Dentsu will announce its quarterly results on August 14.
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Lauren McNamara is a freelance journalist contributing to Mumbrella. She previously spent three years at the publication, most recently as the associate editor. She first joined in 2022 after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS. She left her staff role at Mumbrella in August 2025.
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