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LONDON (Alliance News) - WPP PLC on Monday reported a drop in quarterly revenue, hit by its North American performance.
The media buying giant said its revenue fell 4.0% to GBP3.6 billion for the three months to the end of March from GBP3.7 billion for the same period in 2017. On a constant currency basis, revenue rose 2.0% while like-for-like revenue was up 0.8%.
WPP said business in the UK, Asia Pacific and Latin America was up strongly, offset by declines in North America and Western Continental Europe.
North America was the weakest performing region, with revenue down nearly 11% in the quarter at reported currency rates to GBP1.3 billion from GBP1.4 billion the prior year. At constant currency, North America revenue was up 0.2%. This was due to the weaker performance in advertising, data investment management and healthcare divisions, the company said.
Meanwhile, the UK was the strongest performing region, as revenue rose 6.6% to GBP532.0 million from GBP499.0 million the year before, helped by strong growth in all sectors, except brand consulting.
During the quarter, WPP bought back 0.9% of issued shared, representing 11.5 million shares at an average price of 1,259.00 pence per share, totalling GBP145.0 million.
Shares in WPP were trading 7.1% higher at 1,230.00 pence per share on Monday.
Debt increased slightly year-on-year to GBP4.8 billion from GBP4.4 billion.
Earlier, the Financial Times said that WPP was in talks with private equity firm CVC Capital Partners Ltd for a potential sale of its market research arm Kantar. However, the companies warned that they are at a very early stage, according to the FT, and did not provide any comments.
WPP didn't mention Kantar in its trading update Monday.
CVC Capital's offer came after WPP could not reach an agreement with information & measurement company Nielsen Holdings PLC to form a Kantar-Nielsen merger, according to the FT.
"We are pleased to announce the group's first quarter trading update, which is in line with our expectations. Our guidance for 2018 remains unchanged," said Chief Executive Roberto Quarta.
"Looking ahead, we will get even closer to our clients, and provide faster, more agile, more integrated solutions with data and technology at their heart - making it simpler to access the wealth of talent, creativity and capabilities we have within WPP," added Chief Operating Officers Mark Read And Andrew Scott.
