WPP Reports First Quarter DIM Revenue Dip

WPP has reported like-for-like first quarter revenue growth across all its business sectors except for the Data Investment Management (DIM) division, where revenue fell 1.4% to £558m from £566m in the prior year period.

The DIM division (previously known as Consumer Insights) houses Kantar companies including TNS, Millward Brown, The Futures Company and many other specialist firms. During the first quarter, on a constant currency basis, the division's net sales grew 1.6%, with like-for-like net sales up 1.2%, compared with -1.0% in the final quarter of 2014. WPP says all regions except the United Kingdom grew in the first quarter, with 'particularly strong growth' noted in Asia Pacific, Latin America and Africa, while North America and Continental Europe were up just under 1.0%.

The firm says its prime focus in 2015 will remain on growing revenue and net sales faster than the industry average, driven by its positions in areas such as data investment management, including data analytics and the application of technology.

Overall group reported revenue in sterling was up 8.3% to £2.783 billion, in dollars down 1.1% to $4.211 billion and in Euros up a whopping 20.9% to EUR 3.753 billion - showing the volatility of exchange rates. Constant currency revenue rose 7.4% and like-for-like revenue was up 5.2%, while reported net sales were up 6.0%, up 5.0% in constant currency and up 2.5% like-for-like.

In Q1, almost 37% of the group's revenue came from direct, digital and interactive work - up 1.1 percentage points from the previous year, and closer to WPP's five-year objective of 40-45%.

Web site: www.wpp.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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