WPP's third-quarter revenue rose 0.5% like-for-like. Third-quarter revenue less pass-through costs fell 2.1%

On October 29, WPP published its third-quarter trading update. Company-reported revenue was £3,274 million, up 0.5% from a year earlier on a reported basis and like-for-like. Revenue less pass-through costs was £2,411 million, down 2.0% reported and 2.1% like-for-like. For the margin a small digital agency keeps, see Marketing agency profit margins.

Like-for-like, as WPP defines it, compares this year and last year in constant currency, with acquisitions and disposals lined up over the same period. Revenue less pass-through costs is the second revenue line in the update. WPP’s full-year guide for headline operating margin is 12% to 13%. That is a different measure from the after-tax margins in the guide.

Two revenue lines

WPP’s chief executive, Cindy Rose, said: “Our third quarter results show further sequential improvement in LFL growth, in line with our expectations.”

On the news page, the prior-quarter comparison printed is the top 25 clients. Their like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs fell 2.7% in the third quarter, after a 3.2% decline in the second quarter. WPP called that an improving trajectory, and said the third-quarter performance reflects client assignment losses from the prior year.

For the first nine months, revenue less pass-through costs was £7,156 million, down 4.4% reported and 3.9% like-for-like. The third-quarter move on that line was a 2.1% like-for-like decline. The nine-month move was a 3.9% like-for-like decline.

WPP kept its guide for the second half. It expects like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to be down by a low to mid single digit, with the fourth quarter toward the better end of that range.

Which lines moved

Global Integrated Agencies also fell 2.1% like-for-like on revenue less pass-through costs. Inside that, WPP Media returned to growth of 0.3%, WPP Production grew 2.5%, and WPP Creative fell 5.1%.

In the same passage, WPP said every region declined on that basis: North America by 1.8%, EMEA by 1.7%, APAC by 4.3%, and Latin America by 1.2%.

By client sector, WPP said CPG, Tech & Digital Services, and Retail were still down like-for-like. Automotive and Healthcare were still growing. The news page gives no rates for those sectors. The trading-update PDF linked from that page does.

Rose also said client demand remains healthy for WPP’s AI-enabled media, creative, production, and enterprise solutions, powered by its agentic marketing platform, WPP Open. The creative line in the same update was down 5.1%.

WPP listed new assignments and retentions, including The Coca-Cola Company as its global media partner, excluding North America, Japan, and South Korea, which were not part of that review. The same list names DoorDash, Nestlé, Uber, and Waymo.

Four lines before you repeat the number

Headlines use one percentage. The table under it has more. Before you repeat one, write four lines. The figures here are WPP’s, company-reported, so each line has something to catch.

1. Both revenue numbers. Third-quarter revenue was up 0.5% like-for-like. Revenue less pass-through costs was down 2.1% like-for-like. A sentence that uses only the first figure leaves the second one out.
2. The service line. At Global Integrated Agencies, media was up 0.3% and production was up 2.5%. Creative was down 5.1%. Those are like-for-like moves in revenue less pass-through costs. One sentence about the whole firm mixes a growing production line with a shrinking creative line.
3. The margin word, and which half. WPP guides full-year headline operating margin to 12% to 13%. It also said second-half margins are decreasing by up to about 200 basis points from a year earlier. Two hundred basis points is 2 percentage points. WPP said the decrease reflects the timing of its investment plans, including growth initiatives, the ramp-up of new business, and rebuilding incentives. The full-year range sits beside a second half WPP expects to be lower than a year earlier.
4. The markets in the win. WPP highlighted the Coca-Cola media assignment. North America, Japan, and South Korea were outside the review. Write the markets next to the client name.

What to do this week

Run the same four lines on your last quarter. Use your books. Leave WPP’s percentages on WPP.

1. Write billed revenue, then revenue after pass-through costs. If pass-through costs are zero, write zero, so the two lines stay on the page.
2. Split that second line into creative, media, and production, or the nearest names you use. Mark the line that grew and the line that shrank.
3. Write your margin and the name of the calculation beside it. Put WPP’s headline operating-margin guide of 12% to 13% on the next line, with its own name. Marketing agency profit margins holds the after-tax figures for digital agencies.
4. When a client mentions a holding-company win, ask which markets were in the review. The Coca-Cola line is the sample: a global title, with three markets named as outside the review.

The update is one company’s quarter. The four lines are how you stop a single percentage from standing in for it.