WPP beats H1 sales forecasts
Advertising group WPP's like-for-like sales grew 4.3 percent in the first half thanks to strong growth in emerging economies, beating market forecasts, and the company raised its interim dividend by 20 percent.
First Great Western to invest £29 mln in service improvementsWPP, whose advertising agencies include Ogilvy & Mather and Young & Rubicam, said on Friday business activity in 2008 should match that of 2007, helped by the Beijing Olympic Games and the U.S. presidential election, both advertising drivers.
First-half sales were 3.339 billion pounds, beating the Reuters Estimates consensus of 3.244 billion.
Headline operating profit rose 9.2 percent in constant currencies to 453.4 million pounds, also beating expectations. The headline operating margin rose 0.5 percentage points to 13.6 percent, edging closer to WPP's 2008 target of 15.5 percent.
"Levels of activity in 2008 should match those seen in 2007," WPP, the world's No.2 advertising group after Omnicom said in a statement. "However, the prospects for 2009 remain less certain."
Omnicom also said last month it remained cautious about the weak U.S. economy and saw a slowdown in the UK, Spain and Italy due to economic factors.
French rival Publicis, on the other hand, posted better-than-expected sales growth on the back of strong operations in digital advertising and emerging markets and predicted stronger growth if markets did not deteriorate.
WPP trades at 8.8 times expected 2009 earnings, according to Reuters Estimates, a discount to Omnicom at 11.6 times and Publicis at 9.1.
(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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