No chance. IF WPP was broken up and sold off they may possibly be they would be interested in a particular agency or part of the business. |
It's not a question of "needing" WPP or not, but a question of adding more revenues and profit, thus reducing competition and fragmentation in the sector. |
Publicis do not need WPP, they have thrashed WPP in business terms.
PUB share price Up 260% over the last 5 years.
Publicis business performance highlights the plight of WPP. |
Agree as consolidation in this sector is a must to reduce fragmentation. I can easily see the likes of Publicis (France) or Omnicom (USA) taking WPP over or merge with it. |
Yes possible...or merge with another advertising company...people business...slim line cost base... |
there is one heck of a gap above. but i am still not convinced they need filling. you fill it in your head if you want to. wpp is often the canary in the goldmine for a us recession. look at the correlation between the share price and us recessions in 2001-2 and 2008-9. you have got to expect a potential for 320p given pending us recession. wtf wants to have big us holdings for anything other than very short term atm? there won't be many people advertising stuff over there, apart from therapy for ex-mag 7 holders |
650p morning...625p afternoon... |
good to see some movement at last. So oversold and neglected. broker target prices 760p low, 1015p high. |
RSI looks oversold here...is there a gap around 750p to fill?... |
A pre tax profit of £1.03bn Dividend of 39.4p or 6%. PE about 10.
I think we could do with a bit of bluster here. The above figures were good. |
Batch of broker ratings today...
Deutsche Bank cuts WPP price target to 875 (1,035) pence - 'buy' Oddo BHF cuts WPP price target to 760 pence - 'neutral' Bernstein cuts WPP price target to 1,015 (1,130) pence - 'outperform' Barclays cuts WPP to 'equal weight' - price target 780 pence |
 Looking ripe for a takeover in my view. A company that is valued now at GBP7.07B with a operating profit of GBP1.71 billion in 2024. Cheep as chips.
(Alliance News) - WPP PLC on Thursday guided flat to lower revenue in 2025, as it said "weaker client discretionary spend" in the fourth quarter of last year hurt its 2024 results.
WPP shares fell 18% in response, trading at 633.13 pence early Thursday in London. It was the worst performer in the FTSE 100 index, which itself was marginally lower.
The London-based advertising agency reported revenue less pass-through costs of GBP11.36 billion for 2024, down 4.2% from GBP11.86 billion in 2023. On a like-for-like basis, this was down 1.0%. Total revenue was GBP14.74 billion, down 0.7% from GBP14.85 billion, though up 2.3% on a like-for-like basis.
Looking ahead, WPP said its expects like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to be flat to down 2% in 2025, with performance improving in the second half.
More positively, pretax profit was GBP1.03 billion in 2024, multiplying from GBP346 million in 2023. Operating profit also jumped, to GBP1.33 billion from GBP531 million, as operating profit margin improved to 9.0% from 3.6%.
However, on a headline basis, operating profit slipped 2.5% to GBP1.71 billion in 2024 from GBP1.75 billion in 2023, as headline operating profit margin improved only slightly to 15.0% from 14.8%.
In 2025, headline operating profit margin is expected to remain flat, WPP said.
WPP declared a 39.4 pence final dividend, unchanged from a year before. This means a full-year dividend of 39.4p, also unchanged. WPP had been expected to cut its annual dividend to 37.70p, according to market consensus cited by the Financial Times.
"Though we remain cautious given the overall macro environment, we are confident in our medium-term targets," said Chief Executive Officer Mark Read, citing in particular WPP's investments in artificial intelligence, data, and proprietary media.
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor |
Net debt is down substantially from £2.5b to £1.7b. This business is generating a good amount of cash.Wpp is very often volatile, but they have a long history of rewarding shareholders. As I say under 650p was a no brainer. Imho |
dont know about next few weeks its poss but sellside will be cutting their numbers so those cuts will have effects on the shares on those given mornings so it will be choppy. the year after an election year is always a tough one comps wise but but if you take just china and the recent renewed interest there after the recent bounce and renewed spending then youll probably see some kind of uptick in ad spend during the next few months so by the mid year update there should be some better news from the china side. |
Bgt in here. Fall looks way overdone. Should bounce back over 700p over the next few weeks. |
WPP is still underperforming 530p target here. |
I thought the results were ok. panic selling, panic buying a feature of todays markets.
topped up with a few more of this disaster investment in a troubled sector.
RR going gangbusters today, WPP the opposite. I seem drawn to invest in the underdogs, cheap and cheerful. |
You were correct. Quite a fall today. |
WPP has shown minimal shareholder growth over last 30 years. I don’t get why it trades on a high multiple.
Then my Kiwi friends tell me of a connection between a LW news company and I start having USAID thoughts. |
So Mark Read floating the idea of a move to US listing. Wonder if anything will come of that in the fullness of time? The LSE does seem to be running out of favour rather rapidly. |
 IMO this is due to UBS Sell rating.
WPP’s recent strength batted off as UBS doubles down on ‘sell’ rating Published: 15:53 06 Jan 2025 GMT
WPP PLC (LSE:WPP)’s recent rebound has failed to shift sentiment at UBS, which doubled down on a ‘sell’ rating for the advertising firm on poor prospects ahead.
Though UBS upped WPP’s share price target from 680p to 720p, the bank suggested a resurgence in its share price since the summer was unlikely to last.
“We think this reflects a strong performance in account wins during [the second half of 2024],” UBS said in a note, pointing to deals with the likes of Amazon and Unilever.
“However, in our view the upcoming catalyst path remains negative and we retain our sell rating.”
Guidance for 2025, which UBS forecast would lay out growth of 1-2%, was likely to “underwhelm,8221; analysts said.
Performance over the year was also set to be second-half weighted, leaving little scope for organic growth in the coming months as recent strength in account reviews could reverse.
“It recently lost the US$500 million Volvo media account, and its Mars account is under review,” UBS flagged.
UBS cut WPP’s 2025 margin estimate from 15.1% to 14.9% and also signalled lower earnings per share expectations for the year.
Shares fell by 3.3% to 787.40p on Monday. |