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LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Britain's WPP, theworld's biggest advertising company, said it was on track forits full-year like-for-like net sales target after winning newwork, despite posting a slight slowdown in the first-quarter.
WPP, which counts the likes of Ford, Unilever and Microsoftamong its clients, reported a 3.3 percent rise in 2014like-for-like net sales and a 3.9 percent rise in January.
On Thursday it posted first-quarter growth of 2.5 percentbut said this still fitted within its forecast for the full-yearas it expects growth to accelerate over time. It said profitsand margin were well above target.
Analysts said the British group, run by the high-profilebusinessman Martin Sorrell, had faced tough comparatives in thefirst quarter and welcomed the reiteration of the full-yearoutlook and the near $1 billion of net new business itannounced.
The measurement more commonly used by its peers,like-for-like revenue, was up 5.2 percent in the period, in linewith rival Omnicom, the No. 1 U.S. advertising company,and ahead of France's Publicis which posted growth of0.9 percent. (Reporting by Kate Holton; editing by James Davey)
