WPP keeps income steady in 30th year despite wild currency fluctuations
Updated : 08:26
WPP celebrated its 30th birthday in style in 2015, with another record year of results despite strong currency headwinds.
Reported billings at the advertising and public relations firm were up 3.1% to £47.63bn in its preliminary results on Friday, though the revenue results were mixed through its various markets.
Pound sterling revenue was up 6.1% to £12.235bn, and euro revenue rose 17.8% to €16.874bn. Dollar revenue was down 1.4% at $18.693bn, and yen revenue dropped 12.4% to JPY 2.264trn.
Constant currency revenue growth was 7.5%, however, with like-for-like revenue up 5.3%. WPP's constant currency net sales were up 5.8%, and like-for-like net sales rose 3.3%.
The company reported a net sales margin of 16.9%, up 0.2 points against the prior year, and 0.4 points on a constant currency basis. That was ahead of the full-year target of 0.3 points in constant currency.
Headline EBITDA crossed the £2bn threshold for the first time, at £2.002bn, and headline profit before tax rose 7.3% to £1.62bn - an 11.2% rise in constant currencies.
Reported profit before tax rose 2.8%, or 7.3% in constant currencies, to £1.49bn.
WPP's headline diluted earnings per share were up 10.2% to 93.6p, or up 13.3% in constant currencies. Its return on equity during the year reached 16.3%, up 1.3 percentage points on 2014, and against a weighted average cost of capital of 6.7% in 2015.
Net debt stood at £3.211bn on 31 December 2015, an increase of £936m on a year prior.
Net new business totalled £5.557bn during the period, with the group first overall in new business league tables for the fourth year in a row and GroupM topping both the RECMA media tsunami net new business and retention tables.
The FTSE 100 firm confirmed a 17% rise in total dividends for the year, to 17p per share. That represented a payout ratio of 47.7%, against 45% last year.
WPP's board said the company had made an above-budget start to 2016, with January like-for-like revenue up 4.2% and net sales up 2.3% against strong comparatives.