WPP PLC (LSE:WPP) said it was too early to judge the full impact of President Trump’s new tariffs, but acknowledged that trade disruption was adding to an already cautious backdrop for clients.
The advertising group reported a slowdown in business for the first quarter of 2025, although results came in line with expectations and full-year guidance was reiterated.
Group revenue fell 5% year-on-year to £3.24 billion, or 0.7% on a like-for-like basis. Revenue less pass-through costs, a key industry measure, dropped 2.7% on the same basis to £2.48 billion.
Chief executive Mark Read said macroeconomic challenges and the timing of new business wins had weighed on the first quarter, with a similar pattern expected in Q2.
However, he added that WPP continued to expect performance to improve in the second half of the year.
“While WPP is not itself directly affected by tariffs, they will impact a number of our clients as well as the broader economy,” Read said.
He noted that there had been no meaningful change in client spending to date, and that full-year guidance already factored in a difficult operating environment.
The group continues to forecast flat to minus 2% like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs for the year, with operating margins expected to be stable excluding currency effects.
On the new business front, WPP highlighted new account wins for VML and Burson, alongside progress integrating recently acquired data platform InfoSum into its GroupM media division.
Use of its AI-powered WPP Open platform also rose to 48,000 client-facing staff, up from 33,000 in December.