WPP has posted weak results for 2024, reporting a 1.0% fall in revenue less pass-through costs of USD $14.38 billion (£11.35 billion), missing -0.4% forecasts.
In response, the holding company is set to increase investment in AI, data and tech through WPP Open across the business and clients in the year ahead. WPP is also looking to drive creative transformation with clients across creative, production, commerce and media and improve the competitiveness of its media offering.
Increasing operational efficiency and optimising investment allocation will also be WPP’s focus in the year ahead.
WPP’s weak 2024 results come after rivals Publicis Groupe reported organic revenue growth of 5.8% year-over-year and Omnicom Group posted 5.2% organic growth last year.
WPP’s Mark Read
Cautious but confident
Mark Read, chief executive officer of WPP, said: “We achieved significant progress against our strategy in 2024 with the creation of VML, Burson and the simplification of GroupM – some 70% of our business. We sold our stake in FGS Global to create significant value for shareholders. And we increased our margin, while stepping up our investment in AI through WPP Open, which is now used by 33,0006 people across WPP.
“The top line was lower, however, with Q4 impacted by weaker client discretionary spend. We did see growth from our top 25 clients of 2.0% and an improving new business performance in the second half of the year with wins from Amazon, J&J, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever reflecting the strength of our integrated offer.
“The actions we are taking across WPP will strengthen our existing client relationships and drive our new business results. We expect some improvement in the performance of our integrated creative agencies in the year ahead. At the same time, we have comprehensive efforts underway to improve our competitive positioning through new leadership at GroupM, with further investment in AI, data and proprietary media.
“Though we remain cautious given the overall macro environment, we are confident in our medium-term targets and believe our focus on innovation, a simpler client-facing offer and operational excellence will support our growth and deliver greater value for our shareholders.”