Sharewatch: WPP Rises After Successful Second Quarter

Advertising superpower WPP saw a rise of 1.07% yesterday, pushing share price to 566p following a presentation by the company in New York during which it was revealed that profits had risen through April and May, with the second quarter of the year looking to be more successful than the first.

Earlier this month Martin Sorrell, WPP’s chief executive, sounded optimistic on the prospect of a global advertising recovery when he unveiled the company’s annual report, claiming the outlook for advertisers is ‘good’ and ‘getting even better’ (see Sorrell Positive On Global Advertising Recovery).

Elsewhere, ITV remained steady as the broadcaster gears up for the Euro 2004 football tournament. The company has tied up several high-profile sports sponsorship deals to capitalise on the event, announcing sponsors for both online content and football related programming (see ITV Nets Carling For Fantasy Football Sponsorship Deal).

Reuters was one of only a handful of companies to suffer a dip in share price yesterday, slipping by 1.83% to 375źp following a statement by chief executive, Tom Glocer, who indicated second quarter revenue would decline by around 6%.

The FTSE 100 closed above the 4,500 mark for the first time in a month yesterday, rising by 0.3% to 4,504.8. The FTSE 250 also rose by 0.3% to 6148.1, its highest trading level for a month.

The closing prices of media company shares on Tuesday were: