WPP PR Revenues Down 8.2%

Holding company WPP Group reported interim results for the first half of 2009 yesterday. Like for like revenues in the Public Relations & Public Affairs division dropped 8.2%. Consumer insight saw the highest like for like revenue drop at 10.3%. Overall, profit dropped more than 48%.

Layoffs are on the way. The holding company shed 2.8 percent of its staff in the first half of 2009 and plans to shed 7,000 more jobs by end of year. As AgencySpy notes, WPP’s stock price went up in advance of the earnings call, with one of the potential reasons being a “leaner and meaner WPP…”

WPP’s PR agency holdings include Hill & Knowlton, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Burson-Marsteller and Cohn & Wolfe.

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