Horizontal growth

1 March 2018 By Liam Proud Follow @liamwardproud

Martin Sorrell’s group lost 2.5 bln pounds of value after it said sales and operating margins may flatline in 2018. That looks conservative, since events like the World Cup help advertisers. A bigger concern is new earnings forecasts that suggest stasis in the long term.

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WPP on March 1 said revenue was 15.3 billion pounds in 2017, down 0.3 percent from the previous year excluding the effects of currency moves and acquisitions.

The British ad group’s revenue, stripping out payments passed straight to third parties, was 13.1 billion pounds - down 0.9 percent in life-for-like terms.

Operating profit was 2.3 billion pounds, up 1.5 percent in constant-currency terms.

Boss Martin Sorrell said the company’s 2018 budgets had been set assuming flat sales and a flat operating margin.

WPP shares were down 14 percent to 12 pounds at 0910 GMT.

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