WPP Posts Rise in Revenue

PARIS—WPP PLC, the world's largest advertising holding company, on Monday said a strong quarter from its North American business helped it post a rise in sales, but warned that many of its clients continue to focus on cutting costs rather than growing revenues.

The company said sales for the three months ended Sept. 30 rose 5.9% to £ 2.9 billion ($4.44 billion) from a year earlier. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected the company to report sales of £ 2.6 billion for the period.

WPP said like-for-like revenue—a metric that excludes acquisitions and disposals—rose 4.6% in the third quarter. The rise was a slight acceleration on the last quarter.

The owner of agencies including Grey and Ogilvy & Mather follows U.S. rivals Omnicom and Interpublic Group of Cos. in posting strong revenue growth in the last quarter, boosted by business in North America. Paris-based Publicis Groupe SA meanwhile disappointed investors after reporting that demand from its U.S. clientele had softened.

WPP reaffirmed its full-year targets, saying it expects full-year like-for-like net sales to grow more than 3%.

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October 26, 2015 04:35 ET (08:35 GMT)

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