2026 Interim Results

2026 Interim Results

2026 Interim Results

^{1 Percentage change in reported sterling.
2 Like-for-like. LFL comparisons are calculated as follows: current year, constant currency actual results (which include acquisitions from the relevant date of completion) are compared with prior year, constant currency actual results, adjusted to include the results of acquisitions and disposals for the commensurate period in the prior year.
3 In this press release, not all of the figures and ratios used are readily available from the unaudited results included in Appendix 1. Management believes these non-GAAP measures, including constant currency and like-for-like, revenue less pass-through costs and headline profit measures, are both useful and necessary to better understand the Group’s results. Details of how these have been arrived at are shown in Appendix 4.
4 Headline operating profit margin is calculated as headline operating profit divided by revenue less pass-through costs and reported operating profit margin is calculated as reported operating profit divided by revenue, with the % change expressed in margin points.
5 The Group adopted the IFRS 9 amendments effective 1 January 2026. This increased cash and cash equivalents and reduced adjusted net debt by £180m as at 1 January 2026. As at 30 June 2026, the impact of the amendments was that cash and cash equivalents were higher and adjusted net debt was lower by £125m. Furthermore, the 12-month rolling average adjusted net debt as at 30 June 2026 was £114m lower, calculated by applying the amendments for the period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
6 Adjusted operating cash flow before working capital, as reconciled in Appendix 4.}

H1 revenue of £6,373m was down 4.4% on a reported basis and down 3.2% like-for-like (LFL), while revenue less pass-through costs of £4,745m decreased 4.7% LFL. Q2 revenue less pass-through costs of £2,485m was down 2.3% on a reported basis and 2.8% LFL. Performance in the quarter benefited particularly from an improvement in trend at WPP Media compared to the first quarter, as well as the impact of easing comparisons. H1 reported operating profit margin was 4.1% and headline operating profit margin was 8.4%, representing a LFL increase of 0.2pt, helped by lower headline severance YoY and cost savings. We continue to expect an improving LFL growth trajectory in the second half, with LFL revenue less pass-through costs overall down low to mid-single digits in H2, and expect FY headline operating margin to be in the range of 12% to 13%.

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Cindy Rose OBE, Chief Executive Officer of WPP, said:

“I am encouraged by our first-half performance which is in line with our expectations. While legacy account losses continue to weigh, Q2 saw a further sequential improvement in LFL growth, highlighting the momentum we are building across the company and demonstrating that our strategy to become the trusted growth partner for the world’s leading brands is beginning to deliver.

“We are firmly on track with Phase 1 of our Elevate28 plan to stabilise the business. Our objective for the first half was to put in place the building blocks of the new organisational structure and this is now complete. We are successfully transitioning from a complex holding company to a single, integrated company – with four operating units across four regions, all underpinned by WPP Open, our agentic marketing platform, which enables and connects everything we do.

“Organic growth remains our North Star. While the turnaround of our financial performance will take time to fully flow through, our strong new business wins and improved client retention, as well as progress on cost savings and portfolio actions, demonstrate that we are building a simpler, more competitive and higher-performing WPP.”

H1 and Q2 2026 performance

• Revenue – H1 revenue less pass-through costs of £4,745m was down 5.6% reported and down 4.7% LFL. Q2 revenue less pass-through costs of £2,485m was down 2.3% reported and down 2.8% LFL. H1 reported revenue of £6,373m was down 4.4%, with a LFL decline of 3.2%.
• Business segment and regions – Global Integrated Agencies H1 LFL revenue less pass-through costs fell 4.7% (Q2: -2.8%) with WPP Media declining 5.4% (Q2: -2.8%), WPP Creative declining 4.9% (Q2: -3.5%), softened by WPP Production growing 1.6% (Q2: +1.3%). By geography, North America declined 6.0% (Q2: -4.3%), EMEA -4.3% (Q2: -3.0%), APAC -3.8% (Q2: +0.3%) and LATAM -1.2% (Q2: +0.9%).
• Clients – WPP’s top 25 clients LFL revenue less pass-through costs was down 6.3% in the first half, with an improving trajectory in Q2, down 3.2%. The H1 performance reflects client assignment losses from the prior year and is against a tough comparison. By client sector, CPG, Tech & Digital Services and Retail continued to see LFL declines in the second quarter, however Automotive, Healthcare and Government saw a return to growth.
• Operating profit – H1 headline operating profit was £398m, a margin of 8.4% (H1 2025: 8.2%), up 0.2pt LFL. The improvement in margin reflects lower staff and headline severance costs as well as cost savings, offset by the decline in revenue less pass-through costs. H1 reported operating profit was £261m up 18.1%, predominantly due to lower impairment charges compared to the prior period.
• Adjusted net debt – 30 June 2026 adjusted net debt was £2,935m (30 June 2025: £3,261m, 31 December 2025: £2,167m), down £326m from 30 June 2025 including the beneficial impact of £125m due to IFRS 9 amendments. Average adjusted net debt at 30 June 2026 was £3,304m, compared to £3,404m at 31 December 2025.
• Dividend – The Board proposes an interim dividend of 7.5p (H1 2025: 7.5p), in line with the intention to maintain the total annual dividend at 15.0p per share in 2026.

Progress on Elevate28

• Structural integration: launch of WPP Production, WPP Enterprise Solutions and unified WPP Creative – WPP has made significant progress in its transition from a holding company structure to a single, integrated operating model. Following the earlier consolidation of WPP Production, the company officially launched its unified, tech-powered WPP Enterprise Solutions unit on 1 July to capture high-growth demand for enterprise AI transformation. In addition, WPP Creative has restructured its legacy infrastructure into four regional P&Ls to enable greater interoperability and joint agency wins. Client delivery is now organised across four streamlined operating units, with common incentive models driving more effective cross-unit collaboration.
• Technology advantage: scaling WPP Open, Open Intelligence and expanding frontier AI partnerships – WPP Open serves as WPP’s central operating platform, increasingly driving day-to-day workflows, automating high-volume creative, production and media activation. Open Intelligence, our AI-powered data layer, is being actively deployed, driving meaningful uplift in media performance for clients. In Q2, we expanded key strategic technology and data partnerships with Google, Meta, and AWS to integrate advanced predictive and generative AI tools directly into the platform. These integrations, including a predictive Cultural Intelligence Engine developed with Google Cloud, are already deployed in-market to help clients act ahead of shifting consumer trends.
• Commercial momentum: new business success and enhanced retention – WPP's unified, tech- and data-enabled proposition has driven strong momentum in new business. Key first-half wins include consolidated mandates for The Estée Lauder Companies, Henkel, and Wendy's, alongside major integrated regional assignments in Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, as well as key retentions, including Skechers across multiple markets, Tesco in the UK and Central Europe, Huawei in China, L'Oréal in AUNZ, Uber in APAC and Deutsche Bahn in Germany.
• Financial foundations: cost savings delivery and progress on asset disposals – We are on track to deliver £100m of in-year savings in 2026 as part of the broader Elevate28 programme targeting £500m in gross annualised cost savings by 2028, unlocking capital to support reinvestment into our primary growth engines. Furthermore, we have made progress on the rationalisation of our portfolio, with several non-core asset disposals. Based on activity to date we expect FY proceeds from disposal-related activity of over £200m. We continue to make progress on further potential asset disposals and will provide updates as appropriate.

Financial outlook for 2026

• LFL revenue less pass-through costs – We continue to expect an improving trajectory in the second half and expect LFL revenue less pass-through costs overall to decline low to mid-single digits in H2.
• Headline operating profit margin – We maintain our 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 our investment plans, including both investment in growth initiatives and the rebuilding of our incentives.
• Adjusted operating cash flow before working capital – We continue to anticipate adjusted operating cash flow before working capital of £800m to £900m.

First half 2026 overview

Revenue in the first half was £6,373m, down 4.4% from £6,663m in H1 2025, and down 3.2% LFL. Revenue less pass-through costs was £4,745m, down 5.6% from £5,026m in H1 2025, and down 4.7% LFL.

Segmental review

Business segments – revenue less pass-through costs

Additional Global Integrated Agencies business analysis¹

^{1 Global Integrated Agencies is the Group’s single reporting segment, which aligns with WPP as a single, unified operating company. This represents the aggregation of the Group’s Media, Creative (including Enterprise Solutions) and Production businesses. Additional analysis as above is provided for WPP Media, WPP Creative (including Enterprise Solutions) and WPP Production. Additional analysis related to % LFL revenue less pass-through costs growth and % share for Enterprise Solutions will be provided from 1 January 2027.
2 WPP Media, which is part of the new Global Integrated Agencies reporting segment, includes certain businesses previously within the Specialist Agencies reporting segment.}

In total, WPP Media, WPP Creative and WPP Production declined 4.7% in H1 (Q2: -2.8%).

WPP Media saw a LFL decline in revenue less pass-through costs of 5.4% in H1 (Q2: -2.8%), driven by prior year client losses, but with an improving quarterly trend in spend from existing customers and a smaller drag from net new business (Q1: -8.3%). Q2 also benefited from easier comparisons as the prior period included the impact of one-off factors.

WPP Creative, including WPP Enterprise Solutions, declined 4.9% (Q2: -3.5%) as a result of lower overall client spending, albeit with a moderately improving sequential trend supported by better new business (Q1: -6.3%). Declines are moderating at our creative and PR agencies, with brand and design agencies continuing to grow.

WPP Production grew 1.6% (Q2: 1.3%) against a tough comparison continuing its improving trajectory, supported by new business wins and strong performance across APAC and LATAM.

Regional segments – revenue less pass-through costs

North America declined by 6.0% in H1 2026, with a Q2 decline of 4.3% reflecting a quarter-on-quarter improvement due to an easing Q2 comparison (Q2 2025: -4.6%) and an improving trend in client spend from existing customers.

EMEA saw revenue less pass-through costs down 4.3% in H1 and down 3.0% in Q2, consistent with an improving sequential quarterly trend (Q1: -5.6%). Declines in theUnited Kingdom (Q2: -5.5%) and Germany (Q2: -4.7%) have moderated and both Spain and Italy saw growth in the quarter, benefitting from easier comparisons due to prior year one-off factors. Middle East & Africa declined 9.2% in H1 (Q2: -7.2%) as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East continue.

APAC was down 3.8% in H1 2026, driven by declines in Australia (-4.7%) and India (-2.9%), the latter impacted by the timing of sporting events. These declines were offset by a return to growth in China of 2.6% in H1, with Q2 growing 15.6%, benefitting from timing factors.

LATAM declined 1.2% in H1 driven by a 6.0% decline in Brazil partially offset by growth in Argentina. We are encouraged by improving momentum in Q2 which was up 0.9% and stronger new business performance in the region.

Client sector – revenue less pass-through costs

^{1 Proportion of WPP revenue less pass-through costs in H1 2026; table made up of clients representing 81% of WPP total revenue less pass-through costs.}

WPP 2026 Interim Results PDF 425 KB

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