Not many companies would see their shares surge after reporting a 2.8% drop in revenue in a single quarter but not many companies are like WPP, whose chief executive Cindy Rose claims is on course to build “a simpler, more competitive and higher-performing” business.
Shares in WPP were up 24% in European morning trading Thursday, reversing losses earlier in the year to leave them up 13% since the start of 2026. If sustained until close of play, this would be WPP’s biggest one-day percentage gain since 1992.
The agency group said revenue less so-called “pass-through costs” fell 2.8% on a like-for-like basis in the second quarter. Analysts had predicted a 6.3% decline, according to consensus estimates compiled by Vuma.
This marked an improvement compared with the 6.7% drop WPP reported for the first quarter. The company attributed the recovery to better trends at its WPP Media business.
Rose said on a call with analysts that the result mainly reflected past account losses, but that recent account wins and retention of accounts with existing clients pointed to momentum building across the business.
Since the start of the year, WPP has won accounts from clients including Estee Lauder and Heineken and held on to existing business with others like Skechers and Huawei, which helped it top the industry’s new-business ranking in the first half, according to JP Morgan analysts.
Rose also said the company is on track with her turnaround plan, which contemplates a return to top-line growth over the course of next year.
WPP forecast like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to decline by a low to mid-single digit percentage in the second half, following a 4.7% drop in the first.
The company had previously guided for like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to decline in the mid to high-single digits in the first half, and to improve in the second.
For the first half, WPP made a pre-tax profit of £106m, up from £98m for the same period last year. Overall revenue fell to £6.37bn from 6.66bn, while net profit also fell 57% to £19m.
Rose 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.
“We are firmly on track with Phase 1 of our Elevate28 plan to stabilise the business. Our objective for the first half was to put in place the building blocks of the new organisational structure and this is now complete. We are successfully transitioning from a complex holding company to a single, integrated company – with four operating units across four regions, all underpinned by WPP Open, our agentic marketing platform, which enables and connects everything we do.
“Organic growth remains our North Star. While the turnaround of our financial performance will take time to fully flow through, our strong new business wins and improved client retention, as well as progress on cost savings and portfolio actions, demonstrate that we are building a simpler, more competitive and higher-performing WPP.”
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