A rebound in the US advertising market allowed WPP, the world's largest ad group, to follow its peers and post strong full-year results today and a solid outlook for 2011.
WPP, whose ad agencies include JWT and Ogilvy & Mather, posted fourth-quarter organic revenue growth of 8.5% and said the solid performance had continued into January with revenue up over 8%.
The strong finish to the year, which had been expected after rivals Omnicom and Publicis posted better than expected results, helped WPP to post a full-year figure of 5.3%, with both the fourth-quarter and full-year figures ahead of forecasts.
Analysts had expected Martin Sorrell's firm to report fourth-quarter growth of 7.3% and full-year growth of 4.9% although expectations had risen after US group Omnicom and France's Publicis reported strong trading.
A solid update by another peer Interpublic and reports from media groups that ad markets were growing strongly has added to the sense in recent weeks that the industry is well into a recovery from one of the toughest downturns in recent history.
WPP's performance was boosted by the rebound in the US, continued growth in China, its strong presence in the digital market and an overall drive by fast moving consumer goods companies to increase their marketing spend. For 2011 it expects organic revenue growth of around 5%, in line with forecasts.
Overall reported revenue was up 7.4% to £9.3 billion sterling, compared with an analyst forecast of £9.2 billion.
