WPP 2016 Interim Results
Reported billings up 9.3% at £25.319 billion, up 6.3% in constant currency
Reported revenue up 11.9% at £6.536 billion, up 5.2% at $9.367 billion, up 4.9% at €8.384 billion and down 2.7% at ¥1.042 trillion
Constant currency revenue up 8.9%, like-for-like revenue up 4.3%
Constant currency net sales up 8.1%, like-for-like net sales up 3.8%
Reported net sales margin of 13.7%, up 0.4 margin points versus last year, up 0.3 margin points in constant currency in line with the full year margin target and 0.3 margin points like-for-like
Headline reported profit before interest and tax £769 million up 14.9%, and up 10.3% in constant currency
Headline profit before tax £690 million up 15.8%, up 11.7% in constant currency
Profit before tax £425 million down 40.1%, down 45.5% in constant currency primarily reflecting net exceptional write-downs of £122 million, principally on the investment in comScore, in comparison to net exceptional gains of £203 million in the same period last year
Reported profit after tax £282 million down 53.1%, down 58.8% in constant currency
Headline diluted earnings per share 39.1p up 16.7%, up 11.5% in constant currency
Reported diluted earnings per share 18.9p down 56.0%, down 62.0% in constant currency
Dividends per share 19.55p up 22.9%, a pay-out ratio of 50%, in line with the revised target pay-out ratio of 50%
Share buy-backs of £197 million in the first half, down from £405 million last year, equivalent to 1.0% of the issued share capital against 2.0% last year
Return on equity slightly down at 15.5% for the 12 months to 30 June 2016 from 15.9% for the previous 12 month period, whilst weighted average cost of capital has fallen to 5.5% from 6.7%
Including associates and investments, revenue totals over $28 billion annually and people average over 200,000
