WPP plc (WPP) Q1 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Thank you very much, and good morning, everybody. Welcome to our first quarter trading update, and thank you for joining us. I'm joined on today's call by Joanne Wilson, our CFO, and Tom Singlehurst, our Head of Investor Relationships. Before we get started, please have a look at the cautionary statement, which you can see on slide two, and look at that carefully. So turning to the overview on page three. I'll quickly summarize where we are for the year. Joanne will take us through the financial performance. We'll review their strategic progress and then tackle the Q&A. So on the overview on page four, firstly, in terms of the first quarter 2025 performance, when we met In February, we talked about the challenging macro environment, as well as how the timing of our new business would impact the shape of growth at WPP throughout the year. And as you know, we had a challenging fourth quarter. So we were cautious giving our guidance for the year, as well as being aware of some of the tariff issues and discussions that have been taking place. We did highlight those in our release. And I'd say that our performance in Q1, which saw sales drop, net sales down 2.7% is consistent with what we're saying at that time and therefore very much in line with our own expectations. At the same time, I don't want to give the impression that we're happy with these results. We're not. It's not where we want to be. And we have concrete plans to address the areas of competitive underperformance, including some steps like the acquisition of Infosum that we have taken this quarter. The first quarter did include some encouraging signs like overall performance in the U.S. improved from Q4, albeit benefiting from a slightly soft comp, and also encouraged by the improved new business momentum at...