WPP reports 2.7% revenue decline in Q1 2025

WPP has reported a 2.7% like-for-like drop in revenue less pass-through costs to $3.3 billion (£2.48 billion) for Q1 2025.

The holding group's chief executive, Mark Read, said Q1's performance was "in line with expectations" set out in February's preliminary results, with performance expected to pick up in the second half of the year, according to Read.

He stated: “Our financial performance in Q1 was in line with our expectations, reflecting macroeconomic challenges and the timing of new business, and we expect these factors to continue in Q2 with performance anticipated to improve in the second half.”

Additionally, he noted, while WPP itself has not been affected by US trade tariffs, they have impacted a number of clients and contributed to the broader economy, in which global economic growth is projected to remain subdued in 2025.

However, Read added: "At this point, we have not seen any significant change in client spending and we reiterate our full-year guidance, which already reflected a challenging environment.”

Despite increased uncertainty in the market, WPP continues to expect like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to remain flat, -2% for the full year, with a flat headline operating profit margin (excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates).

Speaking on a call with investors, Read addressed performance being “as expected”, adding: “At the same time, I don’t want to give the impression that we’re happy with these results. We’re not. It’s not where we want to be and we have concrete plans to address the [...] competitive underperformance, including some steps like the acquisition of Infosum that we have taken in this quarter."

Divisional breakdown

Group M globally saw a like-for-like decline in revenue less pass-through costs of 0.9% in Q1. Group M’s growth in the US was offset by the impact of UK and European client losses from prior years and continued weakness in China.

The ongoing “simplification” of Group M under chief executive Brian Lesser is expected to have the most impact on the group’s margin in the first half of 2025, but to be neutral across the full year when balanced by the second half.

WPP’s other Global Integrated Agencies declined 4.4% like-for-like, which the business attributed to continued pressure on project-based work, particularly at AKQA, and “tough comparisons” at Ogilvy.

Key markets

Of WPP’s top five markets (USA, UK, Germany, China and India), China saw the steepest revenue decline, of 17.4%, followed by the UK with a like-for-like decline of 5.5%.

The UK reported revenue less pass-through costs of $489.9 million (£383 million) compared to $509.9 million (£383 million) in Q1 2024, which was also the toughest comparison of the quarter among these markets. WPP attributed the UK’s revenue decline to pressure on project-based spend, particularly in healthcare and automotive, offsetting positive performance from consumer goods.

US revenue remained flat, including a slight improvement in North America to a 0.1% decline relative to a 1.4% decline in Q4 2024. Revenue in Germany declined 5.5% like-for-like. India, meanwhile, reported 5.5% like-for-like growth in revenue for the quarter.

Globally, WPP’s top 25 clients, which include the likes of Unilever, Nestlé and Google, saw growth of 2.5% in the quarter, driven by the strong performance of consumer goods, improved performance in tech and digital services, and the stabilisation in healthcare. This was offset by declines in retail, telecoms, and travel and leisure.

WPP rival Interpublic Group posted its results for Q1 2025 April 24 and reported a net revenue (excluding billable expenses) of $2.1 billion (£1.6 billion), an organic decrease of 3.6% year on year.

Posting its Q1 2025 results earlier in April, Omnicom reported an organic revenue growth of 3.4% in Q1 and attributed the growth to the strong performance of its media agencies.

Publicis Groupe, which has shown strong performance in new business in Q1, reported that net revenues increased 4.9% on an organic basis to $4.05 billion (£3.04 billion) in the first three months of 2025. Reported revenues, including a string of recent acquisitions, were up 9.4%.

Havas reported a 2.1% increase in organic growth for Q1 of 2025 with a total net revenue increase of $749.5 million (£563 million).

Completing adland's "big six", Dentsu Group is expected to deliver its Q1 2025 financial report on 18 May.