WPP's revenue increased from 7,221 million pounds in the first half of 2023 to 7,227 million pounds for the corresponding period this year.

The company's operating profit also increased to 423 million pounds from 306 million during the same time period.

Its Indian revenue grew by 8.1% in the first half of 2024 and 9.1% in the second quarter. Among its other top markets, only the USA grew during the second quarter (2.6%), while UK, Germany, and China saw degrowth of 5.3%, 7.6% and 24.2% respectively.

Mark Read, chief executive officer, WPP, said, “At our Capital Markets Day earlier this year we set out our strategy to build on and improve the competitiveness of WPP’s offer. I am very pleased with the progress we have made in the past six months against each of our strategic objectives, particularly our continued investment in AI, the creation of VML and Burson, and the simplification of GroupM. We are strengthening our offer for clients while building a more efficient company."

He added, “Our second quarter performance delivered sequential improvement in net sales with continued growth in GroupM, Ogilvy and Hogarth and sequential improvement at Burson, VML and our specialist agencies. Importantly, we also saw North America return to growth in the second quarter. That said, we have seen pressure in China and in our project-related businesses which, together with an uncertain macro environment, has led us to moderate our expectations for the full-year. As a team, our priority continues to be improving our competitiveness by delivering a modern, global, creative and integrated offer for our clients. The steps we have taken since January to integrate our offer, bring in new talent and invest in AI represent strong progress towards delivering on our medium-term financial targets and to shareholders.”

With regards to the best AI-driven work, Read noted that Ogilvy and Wavemaker India's work on Bournvita was among the stand-out pieces globally.

"The campaign combines AI-driven interactive experiences with the nutritional benefits of Bournvita, encouraging outdoor activity and health awareness," he noted.

Another point regarding India was that the group has received a 'number of demands and assessments from different states with regards to tax and legislative regimes' and WPP has appealed against them.

According to the WPP statement, "The group operates in a large number of markets with complex tax and legislative regimes that are open to subjective interpretation, and for which tax audits can take several years to resolve. The group has received a number of demands and assessments from different states in India that have been or will be appealed to the courts, none of which are individually material. However, as permitted by IAS 37, the provision of any further information within this disclosure is expected to seriously prejudice the group’s position in the dispute, given that appeals are ongoing. The group continues to believe that we will be successful in our appeals, however any appeal process is intrinsically uncertain. There is no significant change to the contingent liability since the publication of the annual report and accounts on 21 March 2024."

WPP also announced the sale of FGS Global to KKR.