Kantar sale on track while WPP’s guidance unchanged

At the company’s AGM yesterday ( 12^th June), chief executive Mark Read (pictured) said the full-year financial guidance has not changed from its earlier expectation that organic growth (like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs) will be down 1.5% to 2%.

Read is aiming to return the company to organic growth in line with its peers by the end of 2021.

The sale of a majority stake in Kantar is “progressing in line with our expectations”, WPP said in its AGM statement.

The company put multiple private equity firms through to a second round of bids last month. WPP wants the partial sale to be finalised around the end of June. 

Read said: “In December we set out our vision for the future of WPP, and we continue to make progress in delivering our plan to return the company to sustainable growth over the next three years. We continue our programme of new investment in creativity, technology and our people, and remain absolutely focused on the needs of our clients and the interests of all our shareholders.”