* Reiterates full-year margin, net sales targets
* Growth stepped up in July, seen accelerating in H2
* China slowed in Q2, expected to rebound (Adds reaction, background)
By Kate Holton
LONDON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Britain's WPP, theworld's biggest advertising company, said it was on track to hitits demanding full-year sales target after solid first-halfdemand in mature countries helped to offset a slowdown in China.
WPP, which handles the advertising needs of brands such asFord and Unilever through agencies including JWT and Ogilvy &Mather, posted results showing it was performing broadly on apar with its two big U.S. rivals Omnicom and IPG and ahead of French group Publicis.
To hit its full-year like-for-like net sales target of morethan 3 percent growth however, WPP will have to acceleratethrough the second half after posting a 2.3 percent rise in thefirst half and a jump of 3.7 percent in July.
Chief Executive Martin Sorrell, one of Britain's best knownbusinessmen, said trading in China had been "weak" in the secondquarter compared with the first, although he expects that torebound in the second half.
"The growth rate in China has clearly been affected by whatis going on, irrespective of the stock market, underlying growthhas been affected," he told Reuters, in regards to the Chinesestock crash which has unnerved global markets.
He still calls himself an "unabashed bull" on China.
Sorrell has been a vocal champion of emerging markets,investing earlier than others. In previous years he has beenable to counter muted growth in places like continental Europewith booming demand in Brazil, China and Russia.
Results on Wednesday showed the opposite effect, with netsales growth of 3.5 percent in North America in the secondquarter, compared with just 0.7 percent from Asia Pacific, LatinAmerica, Africa & Middle East and Central & Eastern Europe.
Sorrell said he expected the strong performance in the U.S.to be maintained, despite a raft of media planning contractsfrom huge global brands that have come up for review, sparkingincreased competition.
The strong performance in the U.S. echoed the recent updatesfrom Omnicom and IPG, which were also helped by buoyantcorporate demand in their home market.
On a like-for-like revenue basis, the measurement used byWPP's rivals, the British firm was up 4.9 percent, compared with5.2 percent at Omnicom and 6.2 percent for Interpublic. Publicisreported growth of 1.2 percent.
"WPP's ongoing ability to navigate treacherous economicconditions is likely to consolidate its favoured market rating,with the consensus of the shares as a strong buy likely toremain intact," said Richard Hunter, Head of Equities atHargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers.
Shares in the group were down 1.4 percent, on a par with the FTSE 100 Index. (Editing by Sarah Young and Keith Weir)
WPP (WPP)
