Tag Archives: WPP

Articles of Interest

Ad Groups Scramble After Publicis-Omnicom Merger

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

* Shares in WPP, Interpublic, Havas leap on deal news
* Competing agencies will seek to poach big advertisers
* Conflicts possible in tech, telecom, autos
* Publicis, Omnicom say can manage conflict risks (Recasts)
By Kate Holton and Leila Abboud
LONDON/PARIS, July 29 (Reuters) – A plan to merge Publicis and Omnicom into the world’s biggest advertising group has begun a scramble by rivals to poach their blue-chip clients worried the new agency might face conflicts of interest.
Without any defections, the Franco-U.S. giant would bring the accounts of major competitors in a number of industries such as Apple and Samsung, or Coca Cola and PepsiCo, under one roof.
Publicis boss Maurice Levy and Omnicom’s John Wren spoke to some of their biggest clients before the $35.1 billion deal was announced on Sunday, and made further calls on Monday to reassure them they will be better served by the new group.
But rival chief executives from London to Paris and New York, including WPP boss Martin Sorrell, were already scouting on Monday for accounts to poach from the soon to be formed group, industries sources said.
Under the planned deal, the French and U.S. groups will form a giant that will have the necessary scale and investment firepower to cope with rapid changes brought by technology on the advertising business.
Rival ad groups have a rare opportunity to swoop as contracts between major advertisers and agencies often include clauses that say they can be renegotiated in the case of agencies being bought or sold.
“It’s good for us and other independents,” said David Kershaw, CEO of ad group M&C Saatchi. “It shakes out more people that want great creative and global capability but they don’t want to be involved with one of these behemoths, and also who feel uncomfortable having their competitors within the same group,” …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

News, Politics, Government

Google To Pass News International In Traditional Media Spend

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By Tim Worstall, Contributor This little speech that Sir Martin Sorrell (head of WPP, one of the world’s largest ad agencies) gave contains a couple of interesting little factoids. The first one is obvious, if one is looking at what the businesses actually do, rather than how they do it. The other is something of a crossing point: where Google looks likely to pass News International in terms of traditional media spending.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Wausau Paper to Release 2013 First-Quarter Results on April 29

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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Wausau Paper to Release 2013 First-Quarter Results on April 29

MOSINEE, Wis.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Wausau Paper (NYSE: WPP) will release 2013 first-quarter financial results on Monday, April 29, 2013, after the closing of the New York Stock Exchange. The company will hold a webcast to discuss earnings and current market conditions at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, April 30.

All interested parties are invited to listen to the webcast via the investors section of the company’s Internet site at www.wausaupaper.com. A replay of the call will also be available on the website from 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on April 30, 2013 until midnight May 7.

About Wausau Paper:

Wausau Paper produces and markets specialty papers for industrial, commercial and consumer end markets as well as a complete line of away-from-home towel and tissue products. The company is headquartered in Mosinee, Wisconsin and is listed on the NYSE under the symbol WPP. To learn more about Wausau Paper visit: www.wausaupaper.com.

Safe Harbor under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The matters discussed in this news release concerning the company’s future performance or anticipated financial results are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. Among other things, these risks and uncertainties include the strength of the economy and demand for paper products, increases in raw material and energy prices, manufacturing problems at company facilities, and other risks and assumptions described under “Information Concerning Forward-Looking Statements” in Item 7 and in Item 1A of the company’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012. The company assumes no obligation to update or supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of subsequent events.

Wausau Paper Corp.
Investor and Media Contact:
Perry Grueber, 715-692-2056
Director Investor Relations
pgrueber@wausaupaper.com
Fax:715-692-2020

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Wisconsin

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article Wausau Paper to Release 2013 First-Quarter Results on April 29 originally appeared on Fool.com.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

A Closer Look at 5 FTSE Boardrooms

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By Tony Reading, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — Management can make all the difference to a company’s success and thus its share price.

The best companies are those run by talented and experienced leaders with strong vested interests in the success of the business, held in check by a board with sound financial and business acumen. Some of the worst investments to hold are those run by executives collecting fat rewards as the underlying business goes to pot.

In recent weeks, I’ve assessed the boardrooms of five companies within the FTSE 100: Antofagasta , Fresnillo , Rexam , Weir Group  and WPP . Today I am going to summarize what I found.

Five FTSE boardrooms
I analyze management teams from five different angles, giving each a score out of five to make a maximum score of 25. Here’s my overall assessment:

 

Repu-
tation

Perform-
ance

Com-
position

Remun-
eration

Share-
holdings

Overall
Score

WPP

5

4

5

1

4

19

Rexham

4

4

4

3

4

19

Weir Group

2

4

4

3

4

17

Antofagasta

3

3

1

2

3

12

Fresnillo

4

3

0

3

1

11

Top spot
WPP and Rexam share top spot. WPP‘s chairman Sir Martin Sorrell is so well-known that its website barely bothers to provide a CV. Sir Martin created the company from virtually nothing by a series of audacious takeovers, and it’s now one of three global players.

WPP also boasts a former U.S. ambassador to the U.K. and deputy White House chief-of-staff as its chairman. It’s an impressive looking board all round. But Sir Martin‘s generous pay package-£13 million last year-is a sore point with investors.

Turnaround
Fewer investors are familiar with Rexam‘s CEO Graham Chipchase. But he’s done a remarkable job of turning the packaging company around since he became CEO in 2010, a job dubbed a “poisoned chalice” at the time by one analyst. Shares have risen 70% on the back of asset disposals, cost cutting, and moves into emerging markets.

Weir has two members of the House of Lords on its nine-strong board, though Chairman Lord Smith of Kelvin is perhaps more occupied with his chairmanship of the much-bigger SSE and the new Green Investment Bank. Weir’s shares have tripled since Keith Cochrane became CEO, though an earlier less successful spell at Stagecoach, together with a finance director in his first commercial role, gives the company a slightly under-average score for directors’ reputation.

Miners
The two South American miners in the FTSE 100 score poorly. Both companies are family run firms but that doesn’t necessarily equate to poor corporate governance, as companies such as Schroders and ABF testify.

Jean Paul Luksic, whose family owns 65% of Antofagasta, is its executive chairman. That means there’s no separation of chairman and CEO roles, and no finance director with fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. The recently appointed CEO of Antofagasta’s operational subsidiary is well-respected, but not being on the main board his first responsibility is to his employers, not shareholders.

Governance is even more an issue at Fresnillo, where its parent mining company Peñoles owns 77% of the shares and is thus able to enforce special company resolutions over the heads of minority shareholders. Fresnillo’s chairman owns and controls Peñoles. Again there is no finance director, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

The Men Who Run WPP

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By Tony Reading, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — Management can make all the difference to a company’s success and thus its share price.

The best companies are those run by talented and experienced leaders with strong vested interests in the success of the business, held in check by a board with sound financial and business acumen. Some of the worst investments to hold are those run by executives collecting fat rewards as the underlying business goes to pot.

In this series, I’m assessing the boardrooms of companies within the FTSE 100. I hope to separate the management teams that are worth following from those that are not. Today, I am looking at WPP  .

Here are the key directors:

Director

Position

Philip Lader

(non-exec) Chairman

Sir Martin Sorrell

Chief Executive

Paul Richardson

Finance Director

Mark Read

Strategy Director

Chairman since 2001, Philip Lader is the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.K., prior to which he served as Bill Clinton‘s deputy chief of staff. A lawyer, he once worked for Sir James Goldsmith and can probably open as many doors as any FTSE chairman.

Less is more
WPP‘s website contains brief biographies of each director — except it has just a two-line CV for the CEO, informing investors that Sir Martin Sorrell joined WPP as CEO in 1986 and is a non-exec of Formula One and Alcoa.

That clever bit of marketing underlines that Sir Martin Sorrell is one of Britain’s best-known businessmen. Last year, he was named Britain’s most admired leader by Management Today.

Of course Sir Martin didn’t just “join” WPP. After seven years as finance director of Saatchi and Saatchi, he bought into the corporate shell Wire and Plastics Products and turned it into a holding company for a collection of advertising and PR agencies, with audacious hostile takeovers of J Walter Thomson and Ogilvy and Mather.

More for less
While WPP has grown to be one of the three big global players in the advertising market, and Sir Martin is recognized as an eminence grise of the sector, shareholders have had a more variable experience over the course of his tenure. The group was nearly bankrupted by the Ogilvy and Mather acquisition.

Sir Martin‘s remuneration package, worth 13 million pounds last year, came under fire in the Shareholder Spring with 60% of shareholders voting against the remuneration report. He has built up 200 million pounds’ worth of shares.

Long serving
WPP‘s other executive directors are also long serving. Paul Richardson has been finance director since 1996, after three years as treasurer. A chartered accountant, he was deputy treasurer of Hanson and has described himself as “technically very strong” in tax and treasury, complimenting Sir Martin‘s M&A skills.

Mark Read has been with the company since 1989, apart from a seven-year stint as a Booz Allen consultant between 1995 and 2002. He’s been on the board since 2005.

WPP‘s non-execs are drawn from around the globe and have an impressive array of diverse backgrounds.

I analyze management teams from five different angles to work out a verdict. Here’s my assessment:

1. Reputation. Management CVs …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Should You Buy WPP Today?

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By Royston Wild, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — Advertising and public relations firm WPP   has enjoyed a stratospheric share-price run recently, leaping almost 35% in just over four months.

I am convinced that the stock should continue to enjoy further strong momentum as revenues continue to head higher, boosted by the likelihood of fresh M&A activity, while a progressive dividend sweetens the investment case.

Revenues head higher despite wider macro woes
WPP saw revenues increase 3.5% to 10.4 billion pounds last year, the company reported last month, driving pre-tax profit 8% higher to 1.1 billion pounds. The firm expects the industry environment to remain equally challenging in 2013, although advertising revenues are expected to grow in 2014 as a number of large events, such as the World Cup, are staged.

As well, restructuring work should continue to deliver meaty savings improvements. Operating margins rose 50 basis points in 2012, to 14.8%, with margins in advertising and media leaping an impressive 160 basis points. The company has a long-term margin target of 18.3%, suggesting improvement measures have much further to run.

Elsewhere, WPP is planning to plough between 200 and 300 million pounds into acquisition activity per year to supplement organic growth. And the company announced investment in U.S.-based music event specialist SFX Entertainment yesterday, giving WPP exposure to around 100 million music enthusiasts through its stable of festivals, shows, clubs, and online music brands.

City analysts expect earnings per share to rise 4% in 2013, to 81 pence, and advance a further 9% next year to 88 pence. WPP currently trades on a P/E ratio of 13.4 for 2012, compared with the equivalent forward projection of 13.7 for the wider media sector. WPP‘s rating is anticipated to fall to 12.2 in 2014.

Plump shareholder payouts expected to accelerate
The advertising specialist has remained committed to maintaining decent shareholder payouts in recent years, even in times of earnings pressure. WPP kept dividends on hold at 15.5p per share in 2009 even as earnings per share fell 20%.

Following the 16% annual dividend hike recorded last year, to 28.5 pence per share, broker estimates expect the payout to rise to 32.3 pence per share and 36.7 pence per share for 2013 and 2014 respectively. Although yields of 3% and 3.4% for these years are below the 3.5% FTSE 100 average, I believe the firm’s juicy dividend policy should send yields comfortably north of this threshold in coming years.

As well, dividends for the next two years are protected with coverage of about 2.4 times, healthily above a reading of 2, which is broadly considered to be safe territory.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

WPP Makes Strategic Investment in SFX Entertainment to Strengthen Content Capabilities and Reach You

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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WPP Makes Strategic Investment in SFX Entertainment to Strengthen Content Capabilities and Reach Young Consumers

LONDON & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WPP (NAS: WPPGY) , the world’s leading communications services group, has made a strategic investment in SFX Entertainment, Inc. (“SFX“), a digital media company that is the leading global platform for electronic dance music (EDM) events.

Based in New York City, SFX was founded by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert F. X. Sillerman in 2011. Sillerman and his senior management team average over 30 years’ experience in entertainment and music-related businesses, including acquiring and consolidating companies that specialize in producing and promoting live events.

SFX has created a global platform for dance music through acquisition and partnership with some of the leading festivals, events, clubs and online brands. It has a collective audience of over 100 million connected, highly mobile music fans through its various properties which include: Beatport, ID&T North America (Sensation and Mysteryland), Life In Color, Disco Donnie Presents and Miami Marketing Group, home of LIV, Story and Arkadia.

WPP Chief Executive Sir Martin Sorrell said, “We recognize the value in what SFX is creating and believe we can help bring this valuable audience to our agencies’ global clients. The challenge of navigating through digital and social media is daunting for clients and we believe this partnership can further develop WPP‘s content capabilities, particularly in new media in the youth consumer segment.”

Sillerman said, “The investment from WPP is an exciting step for us as it underlines what we have believed from the start. There is a huge, global, fragmented audience of 16-34 year old dance music consumers that is very difficult to reach. In developing our global platform, we will be able to offer brands the opportunity to connect directly through events, festivals, online and mobile media.”

From its earliest roots in Chicago in the 1980’s, dance music has become a $4 billion a year global phenomenon. Accelerated by the growth in digital media creation and distribution, dance music dominates the charts worldwide and DJ events have become the fastest growing segments in live entertainment with 45% year-on-year growth since 2007.

The investment will enable WPP‘s operating companies to tap into the fast-growing international EDM markets with a focus on sponsorship and branded entertainment opportunities. It continues WPP‘s strategy of developing digital media beyond traditional advertising, which has become increasingly important to clients trying to connect with 16-34 year old “digital natives.”

…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Should I Buy WPP?

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By Harvey Jones, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — It’s time to go shopping for shares again, but where to start? There are loads of great stocks to choose from, and I’ve got my wallet out. So should I buy WPP ?

Ad men
If you want to know how to get ahead in advertising, ask WPP. It’s one of the world’s largest advertising and marketing groups, an established presence in both developed and emerging markets, notably China. It owns several agencies, including Ogilvy & Mather, and boasts a raft of big-name clients including American Express, Colgate-Palmolive, GlaxosmithKline, HSBC, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Nestle, Unilever, and Vodafone. Impressive. So should I buy it?

Ugly beautiful
The market likes this stock, and with good reason. WPP has enjoyed a relentless run of share-price growth, up 85% over five years, 67% over three years, and 30% over 12 months. Its recently published full-year results beat expectations to deliver a 7% rise in profits before tax to 1.3 billion pounds. 2012 revenues rose 2.9% to 10.37 billion pounds, the second successive year revenues have topped 10 billion pounds. WPP may look like a rare beauty, with operating margins hitting a record high of 14.8%, but it got there the ugly way, admits CEO Martin Sorrell. Although it posted 4% growth, difficult market conditions sparked a 1% drop in like-for-like revenues.

As football managers say, there’s an art to winning ugly. WPP has shown it has the resilience to what Sorrell calls the four “grey swans” of global uncertainty: Europe, the Middle East, China, and the U.S. Strong global diversification helps, with a powerful performance across Asia-Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa offsetting weakness in the U.S. and Europe. 2013 looks like another tough year, with the U.S. a particular worry, although WPP expects the 2014 World Cup in Brazil to lift everybody’s spirits. Its forward-looking digital strategy should also reap rewards, as more companies switch their efforts online.

Reaping dividends
After a few days to digest the results, brokers came out in favour of WPP, which currently trades at 10.76 pounds. Last week, JP Morgan lifted its target price from 10.54 pounds to 12.82 pounds and maintained its overweight rating. Goldman Sachs has hiked its target price from 11.05 pounds to 11.55 pounds, while Investec lifted its target price by 25 pence to 11.75 pounds. Both rate WPP a buy. If you like this stock, you’re in good company. WPP isn’t the biggest-yielding stock on the FTSE 100 at just 2.6% a year, but management is pursuing a progressive dividend policy and has just hiked its payout by a mighty 16%. Since the dividend is covered 2.7 times, there should be scope for future growth. The yield is forecast to rise to 3.4% by Dec. 2014.

These are tricky conditions for advertising and marketing companies, and projected earnings-per-share (EPS) growth of 3% in 2013 reflect that, but that should rise to 10% in 2014. WPP isn’t cheap, trading at 14 times earnings and on a PEG ratio of 1.5, but that’s hardly surprising, …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

3 FTSE 100 Shares Hitting New Highs

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By Alan Oscroft, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — The FTSE 100 broke its record again today, reaching a 52-week intraday high of 6,489 points — though by 10:10 a.m. EST it had fallen back to 6,463 for a 0.38% gain. That takes the index of the U.K.’s biggest companies up 10% over the past 12 months.

And there are individual constituents of the index that have far exceeded that achievement. Here are three that are breaking new ground today.

Reckitt Benckiser
Reckitt Benckiser shares opened on a new 52-week high of 4,642 pence today before dropping back to 4,601 pence. Shares in the consumer products giant have soared by 30% over the past 12 months, which is quite remarkable for a 33 billion pound FTSE 100 giant, and they’re now on a forward P/E of 17.5 based on December 2013 forecasts.

That might seem a bit high for a company paying a mediocre dividend of about 3%, especially as there is no earnings growth expected this year and only a modest 6% forecast for the year ending December 2014.

Unilever
Speaking of consumer products, Unilever shares have also been flying, hitting a fresh high of 2,738 pence today. The shares are currently on a price of 2,727 pence, which is 0.5% up on the day. And Unilever, which has a higher market cap than Reckitt Benckiser at 35 billion pounds, has enjoyed an even greater share-price rise, up 32% over the year.

Unilever’s shares are also on a higher prospective valuation, with forecasts for December this year indicating a P/E of 19 — although the predicted dividend yield, at 3.2%, is slightly higher. Whether these two shares are too highly priced is an interesting question, but the sector does not look like a screaming bargain right now.

WPP
Shares in advertising giant WPP are continuing their recent climb, reaching another new high of 1,096 pence today before falling back to 1,088 pence. And that’s yet another 30% rise over the past year, with effectively all of it coming since November. Record results reported on March 1 provided more of a boost.

Forecasts put WPP shares on a more modest valuation than our other two today, with a P/E of less than 14 in the cards for the year to December 2013, dropping to 12.5 based on 2014 forecasts. And dividend predictions suggest respective yields of 3% and 3.3% for the two years.

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…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

3 FTSE Shares Hitting New Highs

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By Alan Oscroft, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — The FTSE 100 is looking a bit more positive today following a number of upbeat company results, climbing 0.81% to 6,397 points by 7:40 a.m. EST. The index of top U.K. shares has even peeked above the 6,400 level today, so its 52-week high of 6,412 is under threat again.

But what of individual companies setting new share-price records? Here are three doing just that today.

WPP
Shares in WPP reached a 52-week record of 1,091 pence this morning, following on from last week’s record results. Despite economic difficulties in the U.S., Europe, and China, the advertising giant enjoyed a 3.5% rise in revenue after other regions, including the Middle East, proved robust.

WPP shares are now up more than 30% over the past 12 months and have more than three-bagged since early 2009. But at 13.6, the firm’s forward price-to-earnings ratio is still only around the FTSE‘s long-term average. Forecasts for 2013 suggest modest earnings growth with a 3% dividend.

GKN
GKN shares have made a similar gain over the past year, also putting on more than 30% to reach a new 52-week high today of 286 pence. And again, the latest boost came from strong results last week. The automotive and aerospace parts maker reported sales up 13%, adjusted pre-tax profit up 19%, and earnings per share up 17%. The dividend was raised by 20%.

And GKN shares might still be a bargain, with forecasts for this year putting them on a P/E of only 10, dropping to nine for 2014, with dividends of 3% and 3.4%, respectively.

ASOS
Shares in online fashion retailer ASOS are flying again, reaching an all-time record of 29.15 pounds today — easily beating the 24 pound levels the shares were at in mid-2011 before the wheels temporarily came off.

International expansion has been going well, and ASOS looks set to dominate the world of online clothing sales. But after such a meteoric price rise, the shares are now on a forward P/E of nearly 60, so there will have to be a further quadrupling in earnings to bring that down around the FTSE average.

Dividends can add nicely to your investment returns — they can be spent or reinvested according to your needs. Whether you’re investing for income or growth, good old cash is always welcome. And that’s why I recommend the brand-new Fool report “The Motley Fool’s Top Income Share For 2013,” in which our top analysts identify a share they believe will provide handsome dividend income for years to come. But it will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your copy today.

The article 3 FTSE Shares Hitting New Highs originally appeared on Fool.com.

Alan does not own any shares mentioned in this article.
The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

WPP PLC acquires john st., a leading creative agency in Canada

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By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

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WPP PLC acquires john st., a leading creative agency in Canada

LONDON & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)– WPP, (NAS: WPPGY) , the world’s leading communications services group, announces that it has acquired john st., one of Canada‘s top creative agencies.

Founded in 2001 and based in Toronto, john st. employs approximately 100 people and has unaudited revenues for the year ended 31 December 2012 of approximately $14.0 million, with gross assets at the same date of $5.5 million. Clients include AstraZeneca, Kruger, ING Direct, Maple Leaf Foods and Tata.

Over the last 12 years, john st. has built an international reputation as one of Canada‘s leading innovative creative agencies. It was recently named Silver Agency of the Year as well as Silver Digital Agency of the Year by Strategy, a leading Canadian marketing publication.

The acquisition of john st. strengthens WPP‘s presence in Canada. “We see enormous value in being part of WPP,” says Arthur Fleischmann President of john st. “We’ll now be able to augment our current services in areas that clients are asking for, such as media, direct and public relations.”

WPP is the leading communications services group in Canada. WPP remains committed to building and broadening its client offer in the mature economies of the world. Collectively (including associates), the Group has revenues of US $450 million and employs more than 2,500 people in Canada. WPP companies represented in the market include JWT, Ogilvy, GroupM, Hill+Knowlton Strategies and Burson-Marsteller. In 2010, WPP‘s wholly-owned subsidiary Young & Rubicam Group acquired the Toronto-based TAXI creative network.

About WPP

WPP is the world’s largest communications services group with billings of $70.5 billion and revenues of $16.5 billion in 2012. Through its operating companies, the Group provides a comprehensive range of advertising and marketing services including advertising & media investment management; consumer insight; public relations and public affairs; branding and identity; healthcare communications; direct, digital, promotion and relationship marketing and specialist communications. The company employs over 165,000 people (including associates) in over 3,000 offices in 110 countries. For more information, visit www.wpp.com.

WPP
Feona McEwan, +44 207 408 2204
Kevin McCormack, +1-212-632-2239

KEYWORDS:   United Kingdom  United States  Europe  North America  Canada  New York

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article WPP …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

WPP Reports on Another Record Year

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By Jon Wallis, The Motley Fool

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LONDON — WPP  — the world’s largest advertising group, whose clients encompass all of the Dow Jones companies, including Microsoft, Proctor & Gamble, and McDonald’s — published its preliminary results for 2012 this morning.

Although reported billings of 44.4 billion pounds was marginally down on 2011 (blamed on the strength of the pound), the company saw revenue growth of 3.5% — 2.9% on a like-for-like basis — with particularly strong performances in Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.

A record-high operating margin of 14.8% helped pre-tax profit rise over 8%, to 1.1 billion pounds. Diluted earnings per share dipped 2.6%, to 62.8 pence, owing to an exceptional release of corporate tax provisions last year, but the full-year dividend rose almost 16%, to 28.51 pence.

The company said, “2012, the Group’s twenty-seventh year, was like the previous year, a record year, but it felt very different.” It also said that while targets were reached, it “got there ugly.” While WPP thinks its clients were “in better shape” than 2011, it says that a range of factors — the continuing fragility of the eurozone, instability in the Middle East, a soft-landing in the Chinese economy, the “elephant in the room” of the U.S. deficit and record debt, and the possibility of an EU-membership referendum in the U.K. — all conspired to reduce risk-taking.

Whether it “got there ugly” or not, WPP is now up almost 30% on this time last year, and almost 20% for the year to date. Its overall recovery growth over the past few years has been even more impressive — anyone lucky enough to have bought when WPP dipped to around 300 pence in late 2008 has enjoyed a gain of over 250%.

Looking ahead, WPP thinks that “the pattern for 2013 looks very similar to 2012,” and that this year will be “demanding.” But it says that 2014 looks to be “a better prospect,” with a World Cup in Brazil, and the Sochi Winter Olympics, both of which will help raise the profile of their respective regions.

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The article WPP Reports on Another Record Year originally appeared on Fool.com.


Jon Wallis doesn’t own shares in WPP. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

WPP recovers to deliver forecast-beating growth

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WPP Group Chief Executive Officer Martin Sorrell speaks at the Global Investment Conference 2012 in London

LONDON (Reuters) – WPP, the world's largest advertising company, recovered from third quarter weakness to post annual growth in organic revenue ahead of expectations and said it had started the year strongly. WPP reported like-for-like revenue growth of 2.9 percent in 2012, beating market expectations of 2.6 percent and in line with its own targets. It previously pared back its forecast after a sharp slowdown in North America and Continental Europe in the third quarter. …

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Yahoo Business