9 hours Ago By David Richards
WPP the owner of public relations groups Ogilvy PR, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Cannings, and BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe) in Australia as well as several media buying Companies that are used by large CE tech and appliance Companies, has seen their shares tank 16% overnight as market conditions get tough and brands cut back on advertising and marketing expenditure. Recently the Companies Ogilvy PR operation was dropped by Samsung in Australia, who are also reeling from a slump in their consumer division spanning TV’s and appliances, with insiders telling ChannelNews that certain categories are down over 30%. Last year the Company laid off 105 of their workforce.
Earlier this week we exclusively revealed that Samsung is restructuring their business in Australia with the formation of a new B2b division in an effort to grow sales. Also struggling is Sony and brands including LG who adjusted their expectations of TV sales in the last quarter, and are now hitting the lower targets. WPP is tipping that revenues will most likely fall this year and that revenues are already down in key global markets.
The London-based advertising group said that revenues less pass-through costs fell 2.3% on a like-for-like basis in the fourth quarter. For 2025, the owner of agencies including GroupM, VML and Ogilvy expects like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to range from a flat performance to a 2% decline.
Analysts had forecast a 1.8% rise, according to the same consensus. CEO Mark Read said there were many reasons for caution in 2025, especially the threat of U.
S. tariffs. “The new administration wants to get America growing strongly, but there’s no doubt that tariffs and subsequent inflation is making people nervous,” Read said.
Overall, Read called it a “tough market” but one possible growth area for the business is the X platform owned by Elon Musk, who has a prominent role in President Donald Trump’s administration. Growfast Over the last two years, advertising on X had fallen out of favour, but Read said usage of the platform was rising and clients were recognising that they needed to use it given the role it plays in world politics. Analysts attribute WPP’s underperformance relative to reliance on the tech sector.
“I don’t think we’re going to see another year like [last] year, but I do think that it’s going to take some time for that market to become stable in terms of growth,” he said. For 2024 as a whole, the company reported a net profit of US$687 million, compared with 110 million pounds a year before on revenue that declined 0.7%.
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