“This reinforces my confidence in our strategy and our ability to deliver our plan. We remain focused on disciplined execution as we prepare for the ‘Build’ phase of Elevate28 and position WPP for a return to growth during 2027."
During the third quarter, WPP secured a number of new client assignments and significant retentions, including The Coca-Cola Company – as its global media partner (excluding North America, Japan and South Korea which were not part of the review) – DoorDash, Nestlé, Uber and Waymo.
It continued to invest in future growth, including the opening of a new state-of-the-art production facility in East London, the addition of 48 new data partners to Open Intelligence, the announcement of an expanded strategic technology partnership with Kyndryl and the appointment of key talent including Tyler Turnbull as CEO of WPP Creative and Adam Gerhart as WPP’s global chief client officer.
It maintained progress on delivering our targeted cost savings, as well as potential asset disposals and will provide updates in due course, as appropriate.
“We are on track to deliver phase one of Elevate28: stabilising our business performance and laying the foundations for a simpler, more unified WPP. Our integrated client proposition and modern data solutions are gaining traction with both new and existing clients," says Rose.
Q3 2026 revenue of £3,274m was up 0.5% reported and LFL. Revenue less pass-through costs of £2,411m was down 2.0% reported and 2.1% LFL. YTD revenue of £9,647m was down 2.8%, a LFL decline of 1.9%. YTD revenue less pass-through costs of £7,156m was down 4.4% reported and down 3.9% LFL.
Q3 LFL revenue less pass-through costs fell 2.1%, with WPP Media returning to growth of 0.3% and WPP Production growing 2.5%, offset by WPP Creative declining 5.1%. All regions declined, with North America down by 1.8%, EMEA by 1.7%, APAC by 4.3% and LATAM by 1.2%.
“Client demand remains healthy for our AI-enabled media, creative, production and enterprise solutions, powered by our agentic marketing platform WPP Open.
"Winning competitive pitches to renew long-standing partnerships with clients like The Coca-Cola Company and DoorDash provides further evidence of commercial momentum and client confidence in WPP’s ability to drive brand differentiation and business growth at a global scale," says Rose.
It maintains its full-year margin expectation of 12% to 13%. This is consistent with second half margins decreasing by up to c.200 bps year-on-year, reflecting the phasing of its investment plans, including investment in growth initiatives, the ramp up of new business wins and the rebuilding of its incentives.
