Big Picture: Agency Giant WPP Reports Revenues Growth, But Slowing

August 31, 2012 by Dave Haynes

The monster marketing services holding company WPP – the biggest of the big buys – has reported interim results for 2012 that show a roughly 6% revenue gain for the first six months of the year, to about $8 billion USD. Profit and operating margin were both up.

Most of the report is the sort of thing only people with accounting designations could get through and undertstand, but here’s the macro forecast on where WPP sees the ad and marketing services business:

Macroeconomic and industry context 
Following the Group’s record year in 2011, 2012 started reasonably well with a strong first quarter and slightly slower second quarter. All geographies and sectors grew. There has been some slowing of revenues during the second quarter in the USA and certain markets in Western Continental Europe affected by the continuing Eurozone crisis.

On the other hand, the UK, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa & the Middle East continue to grow strongly. As a consequence, our operating companies are hiring cautiously and responding to any geographic, functional and client shifts in revenues. Operating profit is above budget and last year.

 MediaPost has also tried decoding the thing here …