Martin Sorrell’s WPP – dubbed the bellwether of the global economy – set to report soaring sales and profits
Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP, known as the bellwether of the global economy, is set to report soaring profits and sales in the first half of 2016 this week.
City analysts expect the advertising giant to report headline profits before tax and interest of around £755m – up nearly 13 per cent on the first half of 2015. Estimates vary between £740m and £758m.
Net sales are predicted to come in at £5.5bn for the first half of 2016. This would be an improvement of around nine per cent on the first half of 2015.
Read more: WPP's Sorrell targets expansion in rest of Europe ahead of UK after Brexit
WPP is expected to report a like-for-like net sales growth of 3.2 per cent, compared with 2.3 per cent last year.
And the advertising company is predicted to report a net sales margin of 13.6 per cent, up from 13.3 per cent in the first half of 2015.
WPP is to report its interim results on Wednesday.
Sorrell, the highest paid FTSE 100 chief executive, was a campaigner for Remain in the lead-up to the EU referendum and warned against the UK voting for Brexit.
He warned over the weekend that the Brexit process would take longer than expected.
Read more: Sorrell on Brexit and ad industry: "It is not good news, to say the least"
“The government is doing its best, but the bureaucratic task is colossal and we’ve outsourced our trade negotiation to Brussels for many years,” he told the Sunday Express.
“The renegotiation of trade treaties in and out of the EU is going to be very complex and costly and more lengthy than people think.”