WPP India revenue down 5.4% in Dec quarter; posts 2.8% growth in full year

New Delhi: WPP on Thursday reported a decline in its India revenue during the December quarter, while the revenue for the full year recorded a 2.8% growth.

The holding company that houses leading agencies such as Ogilvy and GroupM said its India revenue declined by 5.4% QoQ, lapping a tough comparison influenced by the timing of sporting events.

In the December quarter of the previous year, WPP India revenue grew 22.0%, led by ICC Cricket World Cup.

It is the first quarterly decline reported by the India business of WPP after the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, a 2.8% growth in the full year gave a breather to the holding company as the rest of the world recorded a decline of 2.6%.

Among the top five markets for WPP, only India registered growth in the full year, whereas the USA declined by 0.6%, the UK by 2.7%, Germany by 1%, and China by 20.8%.

Globally, WPP’s full-year revenue reported a decline of 0.7%.

Mark Read, Chief Executive Officer of WPP, said, “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.”

Among the global integrated agencies, GroupM, WPP’s media planning and buying business, grew 2.7% in 2024 (2023: 4.9%), benefiting from continued client investment in media, partially offset by the impact of historical client losses and a more challenging environment in China. 

GroupM saw an improved new business performance in the second half of the year with the Amazon and J&J wins and an important Unilever retention, despite some losses, including Volvo.

GroupM’s growth was offset by a 3.9% LFL decline at other Global Integrated Agencies.