WPP reports 16% fall in profits after “brutal” year

WPP has reported a 16% fall in pre-tax profits in 2009 to £812 million, calling it a “brutal year overall”.

However, this was better than the predicted £780 million, and revenues were up 16.1% to £8.7 billion. Billings were up 2.7% to £37.9 billion.

In the UK, like-for-like revenue was down 6% year on year, with western continental Europe down 10.2% and North America falling 8%.

Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa & the Middle East and Central & Eastern Europe saw like-for-like growth fall 6.8% year on yaer.

Analyst Merrill Lynch said that WPP’s targeting of a 1 point rise in operating margins for 2010 is a “a major positive, putting the group well ahead of peers on margin recovery this year”.

It added that “on the back of these positive developments” it has upgraded its 2010 earnings per share forecast by 6%.

Looking ahead, WPP said that “2010 should be a more stable year (famous last words!)”, Adding that it would be helped by several events including the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, the Asian Games in Guangzhou, the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the World Expo in Shanghai and the mid-term Congressional elections in the United States.