Business
2016 Preliminary Results
2016 Preliminary Results.
About this update from Wpp Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 4151Y WPP PLC 03 March 2017 \n\n\n\n\n\nFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\n\n3 March 2017\n\n\n\n\n \nWPP 2016 Preliminary Results\nn Another record year, with strong currency tailwinds, particularly in the second half\nn Reported billings up 16.0% at £55.245 billion, up 5.5% in constant currency and 3.3% like-for-like\nn Reported revenue up 17.6% at £14.389 billion, up 3.7% at $19.379 billion, up 3.9% at €17.527 billion and down 7.0% at ¥2.107 trillion \nn Constant currency revenue up 7.2%, like-for-like revenue up 3.0%\nn Constant currency net sales up 7.4%, like-for-like net sales up 3.1%\nn Reported net sales margin of 17.4%, up 0.5 margin points against last year, up 0.2 margin points on a constant currency, up 0.3 margin points on a like-for-like basis, in line with the full year margin target adjusted for the merger with STW Communications Group Limited\nn Headline EBITDA £2.420 billion, up 20.8%, up 8.0% in constant currency \nn Headline profit before interest and tax £2.160 billion, over £2 billion for the first time, up 21.8% and up 8.5% in constant currency\nn Headline profit before tax £1.986 billion, up 22.4% and up 9.1% in constant currency\nn Profit before tax £1.891 billion, up 26.7%, up 12.5% in constant currency\nn Profit after tax £1.502 billion, up 20.6%, up 7.2% in constant currency\nn Headline diluted earnings per share of 113.2p, up 20.9%, up 7.7% in constant currency\nn Return on equity at 16.2% in 2016, down marginally from 16.3% in 2015 versus a weighted average cost of capital of 6.4% in 2016, also down from 6.7% in 2015\nn Dividends per share of 56.60p, up 26.7%, reaching the recently targeted pay-out ratio of 50% one year ahead of schedule and up from 47.7% last year\nn Net debt £4.131 billion at 31 December 2016, an increase of £920 million on same date in 2015, with average net debt in 2016 at £4.340 billion against £3.562 billion in 2015, primarily reflecting the weakness of sterling, although the average net debt to EBITDA ratio remains under 1.8x almost in the middle of the target range \nn Net new business of £4.360 billion ($6.757 billion) in the year continuing the good overall performance seen in the first nine months, but slower than the previous year\nn Above budget, but relatively slow start to 2017, with January like-for-like revenue up 1.5% and net sales up 1.2%...