The initial accounting report shows that company turnover was up 49% by the year-end, reaching a new high of £13.9 billion. The total revenues are believed to be up 37% to £2.981 billion, while the gross profit increased by over 47% to £2.736 billion. On a constant currency basis therefore, the company revenues are estimated to have risen almost 33%, with gross profit going up by almost 43%.

WPP’s figures indicate that the company’s operating margins (before short and long-term incentive payments) will total £118 million or over for the year. This will probably represent a fifth of the final operating profit before bonus and taxes. The reported operating costs, including direct costs, are estimated as having risen by over 36%, or by 32% in constant currency terms.

On a like-for-like basis (including Young & Rubicam Inc. for the final quarter of 2000), the company’s revenues rose by almost 15%. At the same time, gross profit was up almost 16% on 1999. Total operating and direct costs were up over 14% on the previous year.

In terms of performance by division, Advertising, Media and Investment Management accounted for the lion’s share of group revenue at 47%, followed by Identity, Branding, Healthcare and Specialist Consultancy at 25%, Information and Consultancy at 17% and finally Public Relations and Public Affairs at 11%.

Information and consultancy continued its strong revenue growth with gross profit rising by almost 20% and operating margins up slightly over the previous year. Particularly strong performances were recorded by Millward Brown in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Singapore, Japan and Australia; by Research International in the United States, Germany, Greece, Japan, South Africa and Brazil; by Kantar Media Research at BMRB in the United Kingdom; by IMRB in India; and by Goldfarb Consultants in Canada, Italy and the United Kingdom. In terms of future outlook, WPP continues to believe that Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe will offer superior opportunities for growth in the medium to long-term. These markets now account for over 18% of the croup’s revenue as opposed to 13% in 1992. Budgets for 2001 predict like-for-like revenue increases of over 7% in comparison to 2000 pro-forma numbers, with advertising and media investment management revenue growth of 2% to 3% and marketing services growth of over 10%.