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One of the world's largest advertising and marketing-services groups, owning agency networks for ads, media buying, PR and data.
One of the world's largest advertising and marketing-services groups, owning agency networks for ads, media buying, PR and data.
Brands pay fees for creative, media-buying and public-relations work, so revenue follows clients' marketing budgets and the loss or win of large accounts. Media buying, where it places ads on clients' behalf, gives it purchasing weight with media owners. In 2023 it merged its main creative networks into VML.
In one line: The UK's Omnicom peer, essentially the British Omnicom.
Moat: none (scale, brand). Scale in media buying gives some pricing leverage, but client relationships are people-based and can walk.
Headquarters: London, UK · Founded: 1971 · Employees: 98,655
Size WPP (WPP.L) is a United Kingdom Communication Services company (Advertising/Marketing Services) with a market value of $5.93B, the 84th largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £408.70 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 57.5%, against +3.2% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — highest of 16 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 6.5% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.3%); the operating margin is 9.4% (peer median 6.2%).
Valuation It trades at 7.8× forward earnings against a peer median of 19.7× (cheapest of 13).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -8% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +2%, so the hurdle is -11 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 4.5 points above its cost of capital (7.5% WACC).
Credit WPP has 8 bonds outstanding ($5.02B), rated BBB by the agencies and trading like BBB at a weighted spread of 117 bp.
Next results Next results expected around 25 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £13.3B | £13.6B | £14.7B | £14.8B | £14.4B |
| Revenue growth | — | -8% | -1% | +3% | — |
| Gross profit | £2.11B | £2.15B | £2.45B | £2.52B | £2.54B |
| EBITDA | £1.68B | £1.71B | £2.10B | £2.18B | £2.18B |
| Net income | -£240M | -£215M | £542M | £110M | £683M |
| Free cash flow | £1.02B | £633M | £1.22B | £1.06B | £492M |
| Capital expenditure | £183M | £186M | £236M | £217M | £223M |
| Total debt | n/a | £6.83B | £6.35B | £6.88B | £7.18B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WPP WPP.L | $5.93B | +58% | -6% | 9% | 7.8× | -8.1% |
| Omnicom OMC | $23.6B | +13% | +54% | 15% | 7.9× | -6.9% |
| Publicis Groupe PUB.PA | $29.0B | +33% | +5% | 15% | 13.0× | 1.1% |
| IPD IPG.AX | $372M | -18% | +17% | 11% | 15.9× | 5.6% |
| Dentsu 4324.T | $6.37B | +30% | +4% | 10% | 12.8× | -12.0% |
| Havas HAVAS.AS | $1.99B | +10% | +1% | 9% | 8.2× | -8.4% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | WPP.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +9.8% | +9.0% | 7th highest of 16 |
| 6-month return | +57.5% | +3.2% | highest of 16 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -4.9% | -17.0% | 3rd highest of 16 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -6.5% | +6.3% | lowest of 16 |
| Operating margin | 9.4% | 6.2% | 7th highest of 16 |
| Forward P/E | 7.8× | 19.7× | cheapest of 13 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -8.1% | 6.6% | 3rd least demanding of 14 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +2.5% | +11.1% | 2nd lowest of 14 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -10.5 pp | -6.6 pp | 6th least demanding of 14 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +4.5 pp | +0.9 pp | 6th highest of 16 |
| EV / EBITDA | 5.6× | 6.8× | 3rd cheapest of 10 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.9× | 0.0× | 2nd most indebted of 11 |
| Bond spread | 117 bp | 103 bp | 2nd widest of 4 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WPP WPP.L | United Kingdom | $5.93B | +58% | -6% | 9% | 7.8× | -8.1% | +2.5% |
| Compagnie du Cambodge CBDG.PA | France | $6.33B | -11% | +45% | -11% | n/a | 55.9% | +269.1% |
| Dentsu 4324.T | Japan | $6.37B | +30% | +4% | 10% | 12.8× | -12.0% | +8.8% |
| JCDecaux DEC.PA | France | $6.40B | +42% | +1% | 12% | 18.6× | 6.6% | +11.8% |
| BlueFocus Intelligent Communications 300058.SZ | China | $6.98B | -24% | +6% | 0% | 123.3× | 58.3% | +11.1% |
| Pattern PTRN | United States | $3.24B | +15% | +44% | 1% | 24.0× | 37.8% | +36.2% |
| Easy Click Worldwide Network Technology 301171.SZ | China | $3.20B | +3% | +29% | 2% | 99.2× | 57.4% | +9.1% |
| Hakuhodo Dy 2433.T | Japan | $3.05B | +34% | -6% | 5% | 20.9× | -2.8% | +3.8% |
| Stroeer SE & Co. KGaA SAX.DE | Germany | $2.41B | -1% | +3% | 11% | 13.3× | 4.5% | +7.5% |
| REA REA.AX | Australia | $15.9B | +2% | +4% | 48% | 31.3× | 19.3% | +14.5% |
| Kuaishou-w 1024.HK | Hong Kong | $16.0B | -39% | +11% | 11% | 14.9× | -4.4% | +18.6% |
| Havas HAVAS.AS | Netherlands | $1.99B | +10% | +1% | 9% | 8.2× | -8.4% | +1.8% |
| Guangdong Guangzhou Daily Media 002181.SZ | China | $1.96B | -32% | 0% | -6% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Guangdong Advertising 002400.SZ | China | $1.72B | -27% | +11% | 0% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Marketingforce Management 2556.HK | Hong Kong | $1.53B | +10% | +128% | 6% | 24.2× | 16.6% | +38.8% |
| Omnicom OMC | United States | $23.6B | +13% | +54% | 15% | 7.9× | -6.9% | +5.6% |
WPP has 8 bonds outstanding with $5.02B face value. The agencies rate it BBB; its bonds trade like BBB. Weighted yield 4.68%, a spread of 117 bp over government bonds.