WPP ANZ revenue and headcount fall in 2025

WPP Media fell 5.4 per cent across the half, while WPP Creative declined 4.9 per cent. WPP Production grew 1.6 per cent.

Cindy Rose OBE, chief executive officer of WPP, said: “I am encouraged by our first-half performance, which is in line with our expectations.”

“While legacy account losses continue to weigh, Q2 saw a further sequential improvement in LFL growth, highlighting the momentum we are building across the company and demonstrating that our strategy to become the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands is beginning to deliver.”

New business provides some momentum

WPP is looking to ride the momentum from first-half account wins, including consolidated assignments from The Estée Lauder Companies, Henkel and Wendy’s. WPP also retained L’Oréal across Australia and New Zealand and Uber across APAC.

Other retentions included Skechers across several markets, Tesco in the United Kingdom and Central Europe, Huawei in China and Deutsche Bahn in Germany.

WPP expects revenue, less pass-through costs, to decline by a low- to mid-single-digit percentage in the second half. It maintained its full-year headline operating margin forecast of between 12 per cent and 13 per cent.

The group also expects adjusted operating cash flow before working capital of between $1.53 billion and $1.72 billion.

All currency is in Australian dollars.