London: Advertising giant WPP reported first-half 2026 results today that the company says are “in line with expectations,” as its turnaround plan begins to show early traction across the group, even as legacy client losses continue to weigh on the top line.
Global H1 performance: stabilising, but revenue still under pressure
WPP posted group revenue of £6,373 million for H1 2026, down 4.4% on a reported basis and 3.2% like-for-like (LFL) year-on-year. Revenue less pass-through costs — the company’s preferred measure of underlying business performance — fell further, down 5.6% reported (4.7% LFL) to £4,745 million.
There were, however, signs of improvement as the half progressed. Second-quarter revenue less pass-through costs of £2,485 million was down just 2.3% reported and 2.8% LFL, a sequential improvement helped by easing prior-year comparisons and better trends at WPP Media.
Profitability actually improved even as revenue declined. Headline operating profit margin rose to 8.4% (up 0.2 points LFL), aided by lower severance costs and ongoing savings under the company’s Elevate28 restructuring programme. Reported operating profit climbed 18.1% to £261 million, though this was largely due to the absence of a £116 million goodwill impairment that had hit the prior-year period. Reported diluted EPS, by contrast, fell sharply — down 57.5% to 1.7p — on higher net finance costs and a higher effective tax rate.
WPP Chief Executive Officer Cindy Rose OBE struck a cautiously optimistic tone in her comments accompanying the results.
“I am encouraged by our first-half performance which is in line with our expectations,” Rose said. “While legacy account losses continue to weigh, Q2 saw a further sequential improvement in LFL growth, highlighting the momentum we are building across the company and demonstrating that our strategy to become the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands is beginning to deliver.”
On the company’s restructuring efforts, Rose said WPP had completed the groundwork for its new operating model: “We are firmly on track with Phase 1 of our Elevate28 plan to stabilise the business. Our objective for the first half was to put in place the building blocks of the new organisational structure and this is now complete. We are successfully transitioning from a complex holding company to a single, integrated company – with four operating units across four regions, all underpinned by WPP Open, our agentic marketing platform, which enables and connects everything we do.”
She added that new business wins and client retention were early proof points of the strategy taking hold: “Organic growth remains our North Star. While the turnaround of our financial performance will take time to fully flow through, our strong new business wins and improved client retention, as well as progress on cost savings and portfolio actions, demonstrate that we are building a simpler, more competitive and higher-performing WPP.”
WPP maintained its full-year guidance, forecasting that LFL revenue less pass-through costs will decline at a “low to mid-single digit” rate in the second half, alongside a full-year headline operating margin of 12–13% and adjusted operating cash flow before working capital of £800–900 million. The company also declared an interim dividend of 7.5p per share, unchanged from H1 2025, payable on 2 November 2026.
Zooming in on APAC: a mixed picture, but China turns a corner
Turning to Asia Pacific, the region remains one of WPP’s more challenged markets overall, though the details reveal a region in transition rather than uniform decline.
APAC revenue less pass-through costs fell 3.8% LFL in H1, though this masked a marked improvement in the second quarter, when the region was up 0.3% LFL — effectively flat and a significant turnaround from the first-quarter trend. In pure revenue terms, APAC generated £1,099 million in H1, down 7.5% reported (4.4% LFL), with headline operating profit of £27 million at a 3.9% margin, up from 3.5% a year earlier.
The standout story within APAC was China, which returned to growth in H1, up 2.6% LFL, and accelerated sharply in the second quarter, growing 15.6% LFL — though WPP noted this was partly boosted by timing factors. That contrasted with continued declines in Australia (-4.7% H1) and India.
India: sporting calendar weighs on H1
India saw a 2.9% LFL decline in revenue less pass-through costs for H1 2026, which WPP attributed in part to the timing of major sporting events during the period affecting media spend patterns. The company did not break out India as a standalone financial segment beyond this commentary, but grouped it within the broader APAC narrative of an “improving trajectory” as the year progresses.
WPP’s commentary suggests investors should watch China’s momentum for signs of durability beyond one-off timing benefits, while India’s performance may improve in the second half as the sporting-event calendar normalises.
