WPP’s insight division shows slight growth

UK— WPP’s consumer insight arm saw slight increases in revenue for both the third quarter and the first nine months of 2012, the firm said in a trading update today.

On a constant currency basis, insight revenue for the third quarter was up 3.5% to £591m, and for the nine month period the figure was up 3.3% to £1.78bn. The division accounted for 24% of group revenue.

The firm said that the mature markets of North America and Continental Europe remained “difficult” but this was counterbalanced by “strong growth” in the UK and faster-growing regions of Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

For the fourth quarter WPP predicted that the consumer insight arm, along with public relations, branding and identity and specialist communications, are to “grow less” than in the third quarter.

Speaking for the group as a whole, CEO Martin Sorrell (pictured) said: “The three maxi-quadrennial events of 2012, the UEFA Football Championships in central and eastern Europe, the summer Olympics and Paralympics in London and last, but not least, the US Presidential elections in November did underpin industry growth but not, perhaps, as much as was thought, with money being switched from existing budgets, particularly in the cases of the UEFA Championships and Olympics.

Overall, reported revenues for Q3 rose 1.6% to £2.496bn and third quarter like-for-like revenues were up 1.9%.

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