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Kantar and WPP Show Solid Growth
WPP has announced first quarter like-for-like revenue growth of just under 5%. Reported revenues were up 14.1% to £1.56bn for the group and up 11.3% to £227.1m for Kantar, the group's information, insight and consultancy arm.
The like-for-like comparison excludes the impact of acquisitions and currency fluctuations against the pound. The firm says the figures reflect the continued steady overall economic environment, despite continuing uncertainly stimulated by the credit and liquidity crisis and slowdown in the US.
Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East continued to be the fastest growing regions, with revenues up well over 15%. Despite the talk of a recession, North America remained strong with revenues up almost 10%.
The UK was still the slowest growing region, with revenues up almost 5%, although it showed an improvement over the final quarter of 2007. The group said that gross margins up almost 6% reflected the significance of its market research revenues.
In the first quarter of 2008, the group has made acquisitions or increased equity interests in its information, insight & consultancy division in the US, China, and India.
The number of people in the group, excluding associates, was up 4.9% or 4,350 at 31 March 2008 to 93,352, compared with the previous year.
In the first quarter, both operating margins and profitability were ahead of budget and of last year. The group says that it remains on course to achieve its margin objective of 15.5% for 2008.
Web sites: www.wpp.com and www.kantargroup.com .
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