(Adds details)
LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - The world's biggest advertising
company WPP said client wins from Uber, Alibaba and HSBC
had helped it to report an improvement in third-quarter
underlying trading.
The British owner of the Ogilvy, Grey and GroupM agencies
said its like-for-like net sales fell by 7.6% in the three
months to the end of September, compared with a second-quarter
drop of 15.1%.
WPP, which has seen clients slash spending to conserve cash,
said it was on track to hit the upper end of a 700-800 million
pound cost reduction target, and was on track for analyst
expectations.
"Given the tightening of COVID restrictions around the world
and uncertainty in the global economic outlook, we remain
cautious about the pace of recovery," Chief Executive Mark Read
said.
It said analysts see full-year underlying net sales coming
in between -8.5% to -10.7% and headline operating margin of
11.4% to 12.5%.
The group said it had enjoyed a steady improvement in its
key territory of North America as clients returned to spending
on media ads.
(Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by Sarah Young)