Financial
WPP head sees flat growth for 2010
(FINANCIAL TIMES) - Sir Martin Sorrell derided media bosses who welcomed “flat as the new up” when he spoke at a Financial Times conference this week, but he was more phlegmatic yesterday in guiding that growth at his WPP group would be flat in 2010.
“In fact, we’ve been surprised by the degree of stability returning as quickly as it has,” he said.
Sir Martin said that he did not expect a double-dip recession in any big markets, and forecast growth in emerging markets, “a hard slog in western Europe” and advised that “you should never bet against the US”.
For the year ending in December, he reported pre-tax profit down 21 per cent in constant currency terms from £747m to £663m, based on revenue up 5 per cent on the same basis to £8.7bn. However, stripping out revenue from newly acquired Taylor Nelson Sofres , sales fell 8 per cent.
Earnings per share fell from 37.6p to 35.3p and WPP paid a second interim dividend of 10.28p, for a full-year pay-out of 15.47p a share, unchanged on last year.
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