2026 Interim Results
Summary by AI BETAClose X
6 August 2026
2026 Interim Results
H1 performance in line with expectations; Elevate28 "Stabilise" phase on track; continue to expect improving LFL trajectory in H2
|
Key figures (£ million) |
H1 2026 |
+/(-) % reported1 |
+/(-) % LFL2 |
H1 2025 |
|
Revenue |
6,373 |
(4.4) |
(3.2) |
6,663 |
|
Revenue less pass-through costs3 |
4,745 |
(5.6) |
(4.7) |
5,026 |
|
Reported: |
|
|
|
|
|
Operating profit |
261 |
18.1 |
|
221 |
|
Operating profit margin (%)4 |
4.1 |
0.8pt |
|
3.3 |
|
Diluted EPS (p) |
1.7 |
(57.5) |
|
4.0 |
|
Dividends per share (p) |
7.5 |
- |
|
7.5 |
|
Headline3: |
|
|
|
|
|
Operating profit |
398 |
(3.4) |
(2.7) |
412 |
|
Operating profit margin (%)4 |
8.4 |
0.2pt |
0.2pt |
8.2 |
|
Diluted EPS (p) |
15.1 |
(24.5) |
|
20.0 |
|
Cashflow and balance sheet5: |
|
|
|
|
|
Adjusted operating cash flow pre WC3,6 |
309 |
(14.9) |
|
363 |
|
Net cash outflow from operating activities |
(660) |
(36.3) |
|
(1,036) |
|
Adjusted net debt |
2,935 |
(10.0) |
|
3,261 |
|
Average adjusted net debt |
3,304 |
(2.3) |
|
3,383 |
1 Percentage change in reported sterling.
2 Like-for-like. LFL comparisons are calculated as follows: current year, constant currency actual results (which include acquisitions from the relevant date of completion) are compared with prior year, constant currency actual results, adjusted to include the results of acquisitions and disposals for the commensurate period in the prior year.
3 In this press release, not all of the figures and ratios used are readily available from the unaudited results included in Appendix 1. Management believes these non-GAAP measures, including constant currency and like-for-like, revenue less pass-through costs and headline profit measures, are both useful and necessary to better understand the Group's results. Details of how these have been arrived at are shown in Appendix 4.
4 Headline operating profit margin is calculated as headline operating profit divided by revenue less pass-through costs and reported operating profit margin is calculated as reported operating profit divided by revenue, with the % change expressed in margin points.
5 The Group adopted the IFRS 9 amendments effective 1 January 2026. This increased cash and cash equivalents and reduced adjusted net debt by £180m as at 1 January 2026. As at 30 June 2026, the impact of the amendments was that cash and cash equivalents were higher and adjusted net debt was lower by £125m. Furthermore, the 12-month rolling average adjusted net debt as at 30 June 2026 was £114m lower, calculated by applying the amendments for the period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
6 Adjusted operating cash flow before working capital, as reconciled in Appendix 4.
H1 revenue of £6,373m was down 4.4% on a reported basis and down 3.2% like-for-like (LFL), while revenue less pass-through costs of £4,745m decreased 4.7% LFL. Q2 revenue less pass-through costs of £2,485m was down 2.3% on a reported basis and 2.8% LFL. Performance in the quarter benefited particularly from an improvement in trend at WPP Media compared to the first quarter, as well as the impact of easing comparisons. H1 reported operating profit margin was 4.1% and headline operating profit margin was 8.4%, representing a LFL increase of 0.2pt, helped by lower headline severance YoY and cost savings. We continue to expect an improving LFL growth trajectory in the second half, with LFL revenue less pass-through costs overall down low to mid-single digits in H2, and expect FY headline operating margin to be in the range of 12% to 13%.
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Cindy Rose OBE, Chief Executive Officer of WPP, said:
"I am encouraged by our first-half performance which is in line with our expectations. While legacy account losses continue to weigh, Q2 saw a further sequential improvement in LFL growth, highlighting the momentum we are building across the company and demonstrating that our strategy to become the trusted growth partner for the world's leading brands is beginning to deliver.
"We are firmly on track with Phase 1 of our Elevate28 plan to stabilise the business. Our objective for the first half was to put in place the building blocks of the new organisational structure and this is now complete. We are successfully transitioning from a complex holding company to a single, integrated company - with four operating units across four regions, all underpinned by WPP Open, our agentic marketing platform, which enables and connects everything we do.
"Organic growth remains our North Star. While the turnaround of our financial performance will take time to fully flow through, our strong new business wins and improved client retention, as well as progress on cost savings and portfolio actions, demonstrate that we are building a simpler, more competitive and higher-performing WPP."
H1 and Q2 2026 performance
• Revenue - H1 revenue less pass-through costs of £4,745m was down 5.6% reported and down 4.7% LFL. Q2 revenue less pass-through costs of £2,485m was down 2.3% reported and down 2.8% LFL. H1 reported revenue of £6,373m was down 4.4%, with a LFL decline of 3.2%.
• Business segment and regions - Global Integrated Agencies H1 LFL revenue less pass-through costs fell 4.7% (Q2: -2.8%) with WPP Media declining 5.4% (Q2: -2.8%), WPP Creative declining 4.9% (Q2: -3.5%), softened by WPP Production growing 1.6% (Q2: +1.3%). By geography, North America declined 6.0% (Q2: -4.3%), EMEA -4.3% (Q2: -3.0%), APAC -3.8% (Q2: +0.3%) and LATAM -1.2% (Q2: +0.9%).
• Clients - WPP's top 25 clients LFL revenue less pass-through costs was down 6.3% in the first half, with an improving trajectory in Q2, down 3.2%. The H1 performance reflects client assignment losses from the prior year and is against a tough comparison. By client sector, CPG, Tech & Digital Services and Retail continued to see LFL declines in the second quarter, however Automotive, Healthcare and Government saw a return to growth.
• Operating profit - H1 headline operating profit was £398m, a margin of 8.4% (H1 2025: 8.2%), up 0.2pt LFL. The improvement in margin reflects lower staff and headline severance costs as well as cost savings, offset by the decline in revenue less pass-through costs. H1 reported operating profit was £261m up 18.1%, predominantly due to lower impairment charges compared to the prior period.
• Adjusted net debt - 30 June 2026 adjusted net debt was £2,935m (30 June 2025: £3,261m, 31 December 2025: £2,167m), down £326m from 30 June 2025 including the beneficial impact of £125m due to IFRS 9 amendments. Average adjusted net debt at 30 June 2026 was £3,304m, compared to £3,404m at 31 December 2025.
• Dividend - The Board proposes an interim dividend of 7.5p (H1 2025: 7.5p), in line with the intention to maintain the total annual dividend at 15.0p per share in 2026.
Progress on Elevate28
• Structural integration: launch of WPP Production, WPP Enterprise Solutions and unified WPP Creative - WPP has made significant progress in its transition from a holding company structure to a single, integrated operating model. Following the earlier consolidation of WPP Production, the company officially launched its unified, tech-powered WPP Enterprise Solutions unit on 1 July to capture high-growth demand for enterprise AI transformation. In addition, WPP Creative has restructured its legacy infrastructure into four regional P&Ls to enable greater interoperability and joint agency wins. Client delivery is now organised across four streamlined operating units, with common incentive models driving more effective cross-unit collaboration.
• Technology advantage: scaling WPP Open, Open Intelligence and expanding frontier AI partnerships - WPP Open serves as WPP's central operating platform, increasingly driving day-to-day workflows, automating high-volume creative, production and media activation. Open Intelligence, our AI-powered data layer, is being actively deployed, driving meaningful uplift in media performance for clients. In Q2, we expanded key strategic technology and data partnerships with Google, Meta, and AWS to integrate advanced predictive and generative AI tools directly into the platform. These integrations, including a predictive Cultural Intelligence Engine developed with Google Cloud, are already deployed in-market to help clients act ahead of shifting consumer trends.
• Commercial momentum: new business success and enhanced retention - WPP's unified, tech- and data-enabled proposition has driven strong momentum in new business. Key first-half wins include consolidated mandates for The Estée Lauder Companies, Henkel, and Wendy's, alongside major integrated regional assignments in Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, as well as key retentions, including Skechers across multiple markets, Tesco in the UK and Central Europe, Huawei in China, L'Oréal in AUNZ, Uber in APAC and Deutsche Bahn in Germany.
• Financial foundations: cost savings delivery and progress on asset disposals - We are on track to deliver £100m of in-year savings in 2026 as part of the broader Elevate28 programme targeting £500m in gross annualised cost savings by 2028, unlocking capital to support reinvestment into our primary growth engines. Furthermore, we have made progress on the rationalisation of our portfolio, with several non-core asset disposals. Based on activity to date we expect FY proceeds from disposal-related activity of over £200m. We continue to make progress on further potential asset disposals and will provide updates as appropriate.
Financial outlook for 2026
• LFL revenue less pass-through costs - We continue to expect an improving trajectory in the second half and expect LFL revenue less pass-through costs overall to decline low to mid-single digits in H2.
• Headline operating profit margin - We maintain our full year margin expectation of 12% to 13%. This is consistent with second half margins decreasing by up to c.200 bps year-on-year, reflecting the phasing of our investment plans, including both investment in growth initiatives and the rebuilding of our incentives.
• Adjusted operating cash flow before working capital - We continue to anticipate adjusted operating cash flow before working capital of £800m to £900m.
First half 2026 overview
Revenue in the first half was £6,373m, down 4.4% from £6,663m in H1 2025, and down 3.2% LFL. Revenue less pass-through costs was £4,745m, down 5.6% from £5,026m in H1 2025, and down 4.7% LFL.
|
£ million |
Q2 2026 |
% reported |
% M&A |
% FX |
+/(-) % LFL |
|
Revenue |
3,343 |
(2.3) |
(0.2) |
0.2 |
(2.3) |
|
Revenue less pass-through costs |
2,485 |
(2.3) |
(0.1) |
0.6 |
(2.8) |
|
£ million |
H1 2026 |
% reported |
% M&A |
% FX |
+/(-) % LFL |
|
Revenue |
6,373 |
(4.4) |
(0.1) |
(1.1) |
(3.2) |
|
Revenue less pass-through costs |
4,745 |
(5.6) |
(0.1) |
(0.8) |
(4.7) |
Segmental review
Business segments - revenue less pass-through costs
|
+/(-) % LFL |
Global Integrated Agencies |
|
Q2 2026 |
(2.8) |
|
H1 2026 |
(4.7) |
Additional Global Integrated Agencies business analysis1
|
|
Q2 2026 |
H1 2026 |
||
|
|
+/(-) % LFL |
% share, revenue less pass-through costs |
+/(-) % LFL |
% share, revenue less pass-through costs |
|
WPP Media2 |
(2.8) |
47 |
(5.4) |
46 |
|
WPP Creative |
(3.5) |
48 |
(4.9) |
49 |
|
WPP Production |
1.3 |
5 |
1.6 |
5 |
1 Global Integrated Agencies is the Group's single reporting segment, which aligns with WPP as a single, unified operating company. This represents the aggregation of the Group's Media, Creative (including Enterprise Solutions) and Production businesses. Additional analysis as above is provided for WPP Media, WPP Creative (including Enterprise Solutions) and WPP Production. Additional analysis related to % LFL revenue less pass-through costs growth and % share for Enterprise Solutions will be provided from 1 January 2027.
2 WPP Media, which is part of the new Global Integrated Agencies reporting segment, includes certain businesses previously within the Specialist Agencies reporting segment.
In total, WPP Media, WPP Creative and WPP Production declined 4.7% in H1 (Q2: -2.8%).
WPP Media saw a LFL decline in revenue less pass-through costs of 5.4% in H1 (Q2: -2.8%), driven by prior year client losses, but with an improving quarterly trend in spend from existing customers and a smaller drag from net new business (Q1: -8.3%). Q2 also benefited from easier comparisons as the prior period included the impact of one-off factors.
WPP Creative, including WPP Enterprise Solutions, declined 4.9% (Q2: -3.5%) as a result of lower overall client spending, albeit with a moderately improving sequential trend supported by better new business (Q1: -6.3%). Declines are moderating at our creative and PR agencies, with brand and design agencies continuing to grow.
WPP Production grew 1.6% (Q2: 1.3%) against a tough comparison continuing its improving trajectory, supported by new business wins and strong performance across APAC and LATAM.
Regional segments - revenue less pass-through costs
|
+/(-) % LFL |
North America |
EMEA |
APAC |
LATAM |
|
Q2 2026 |
(4.3) |
(3.0) |
0.3 |
0.9 |
|
H1 2026 |
(6.0) |
(4.3) |
(3.8) |
(1.2) |
North America declined by 6.0% in H1 2026, with a Q2 decline of 4.3% reflecting a quarter-on-quarter improvement due to an easing Q2 comparison (Q2 2025: -4.6%) and an improving trend in client spend from existing customers.
EMEA saw revenue less pass-through costs down 4.3% in H1 and down 3.0% in Q2, consistent with an improving sequential quarterly trend (Q1: -5.6%). Declines in the United Kingdom (Q2: -5.5%) and Germany (Q2: -4.7%) have moderated and both Spain and Italy saw growth in the quarter, benefitting from easier comparisons due to prior year one-off factors. Middle East & Africa declined 9.2% in H1 (Q2: -7.2%) as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East continue.
APAC was down 3.8% in H1 2026, driven by declines in Australia (-4.7%) and India (-2.9%), the latter impacted by the timing of sporting events. These declines were offset by a return to growth in China of 2.6% in H1, with Q2 growing 15.6%, benefitting from timing factors.
LATAM declined 1.2% in H1 driven by a 6.0% decline in Brazil partially offset by growth in Argentina. We are encouraged by improving momentum in Q2 which was up 0.9% and stronger new business performance in the region.
Client sector - revenue less pass-through costs
|
|
Q2 2026 |
H1 2026 |
H1 2026 |
|
|
+/(-) % LFL |
+/(-) % LFL |
% share, revenue less pass-through costs1 |
|
CPG |
(6.0) |
(9.1) |
27 |
|
Tech & Digital Services |
(8.9) |
(9.2) |
17 |
|
Healthcare & Pharma |
6.5 |
2.9 |
13 |
|
Automotive |
3.6 |
(1.3) |
11 |
|
Retail |
(3.6) |
(2.7) |
9 |
|
Telecom, Media & Entertainment |
(16.8) |
(14.8) |
6 |
|
Financial Services |
(14.2) |
(13.4) |
6 |
|
Other |
4.3 |
6.1 |
4 |
|
Travel & Leisure |
(1.4) |
(2.8) |
4 |
|
Government, Public Sector & Non-profit |
1.9 |
(3.8) |
3 |
1 Proportion of WPP revenue less pass-through costs in H1 2026; table made up of clients representing 81% of WPP total revenue less pass-through costs.
WPP's 2026 Interim Results announcement has been submitted in full unedited text to the Financial Conduct Authority's National Storage Mechanism and will be available shortly for inspection at https://data.fca.org.uk/#/nsm/nationalstoragemechanism.
The Report is also available at http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/4823P_1-2026-8-5.pdf and on the WPP investor relations website www.wpp.com/investors.
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For further information: |
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Investors and analysts |
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Media |
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Thomas Singlehurst, CFA |
+44 7876 431922 |
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Niken Wresniwiro |
+44 20 7282 4600 |
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Anthony Hamilton |
+44 7464 532903 |
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Louise Lacourarie |
+44 20 7282 4600 |
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Melissa Fung |
+44 7353 107064 |
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irteam@wpp.com |
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press@wpp.com |
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Financial results
Unaudited income statement1:
|
|
Headline |
Reported |
||||
|
£ million |
H1 2026 |
H1 2025 |
+/(-) % |
H1 2026 |
H1 2025 |
+/(-) % |
|
Revenue |
6,373 |
6,663 |
(4.4) |
6,373 |
6,663 |
(4.4) |
|
Revenue less pass-through costs |
4,745 |
5,026 |
(5.6) |
4,745 |
5,026 |
(5.6) |
|
Operating profit |
398 |
412 |
(3.4) |
261 |
221 |
18.1 |
|
Operating profit margin (%)2 |
8.4% |
8.2% |
0.2pt |
4.1% |
3.3% |
0.8pt |
|
Earnings from associates |
14 |
17 |
(17.6) |
14 |
17 |
(17.6) |
|
Profit before interest & tax |
412 |
429 |
(4.0) |
275 |
238 |
15.5 |
|
Net finance costs |
(135) |
(129) |
(4.7) |
(169) |
(140) |
(20.7) |
|
Profit before taxation |
277 |
300 |
(7.7) |
106 |
98 |
8.2 |
|
Tax |
(93) |
(55) |
(69.1) |
(69) |
(28) |
(146.4) |
|
Profit after taxation |
184 |
245 |
(24.9) |
37 |
70 |
(47.1) |
|
Non-controlling interests |
(18) |
(26) |
30.8 |
(18) |
(26) |
30.8 |
|
Profit attributable to shareholders |
166 |
219 |
(24.2) |
19 |
44 |
(56.8) |
|
Diluted EPS (p) |
15.1p |
20.0p |
(24.5) |
1.7p |
4.0p |
(57.5) |
1 Non-GAAP measures in this table are reconciled in Appendix 4.
2 Headline operating profit margin is calculated as headline operating profit divided by revenue less pass-through costs and reported operating profit margin is calculated as reported operating profit divided by revenue, with the % change expressed in margin points.
Operating profit
Headline operating profit was £398m (H1 2025: £412m), at a headline operating profit margin of 8.4% (H1 2025: 8.2%), 0.2 points higher on both a reported and LFL basis. This reflects a decrease in staff costs, including lower headline severance costs and the impact of cost savings, which has offset the decline in revenue less pass-through costs in the period (LFL decline of 4.7%).
Total headline operating costs were down 5.8%, to £4,347m (H1 2025: £4,614m).
Staff costs of £3,469m were down 5.9% compared to the prior period (H1 2025: £3,685m), due to a reduction in headcount associated with prior year cost actions as well as Elevate28 restructuring activity. There have also been lower headline severance costs in the period, which were £44m (H1 2025: £86m). This is offset by a rebuilding of our incentive pool with incentive costs of £130m, up 120.3% compared to the prior period (H1 2025: £59m).
The average number of people in the Group in the first half was 97,490 compared to 105,958 in H1 2025. The total number of people as at 30 June 2026 was 97,388 compared to 104,083 as at 30 June 2025 and 98,655 at 31 December 2025, which is a 1.3% reduction since the start of the year.
Establishment costs of £199m were down 9.1% compared to the prior period (H1 2025: £219m) driven by ongoing rationalisation of our property portfolio and consolidation of leases. Technology costs of £319m were down 6.2% due to savings from Enterprise Technology costs, offset by stable spending on client technology, representing our continuing investment in WPP Open, AI and data. Personal costs of £83m were down 15.3% driven by efficiencies in discretionary spend, and other operating expenses of £277m were broadly flat compared to the prior period.
Headline EBITDA (including IFRS 16 depreciation) for the period was down 5.5% to £502m (H1 2025: £531m).
Reported operating profit was £261m (H1 2025: £221m) at a reported operating profit margin of 4.1% (H1 2025: 3.3%) with the increase primarily due to the same factors as headline operating profit above, and also benefitting from a decrease in total adjusting items of £137m (H1 2025: £191m).
Adjusting items include £83m of restructuring costs (H1 2025: £40m) of which £59m is related to new Elevate28 charges and £24m is related to historical programmes, which reflects an expected ramp down of the prior period charges (H1 2025: £40m). There was also amortisation and impairment of acquired intangible assets of £26m (H1 2025: £32m) and property-related impairment charges of £22m (H1 2025: £5m). There were no goodwill impairment charges in the period (H1 2025: £116m).
Net finance costs
Headline net finance costs increased by £6m to £135m (H1 2025: £129m), primarily as a result of bonds refinanced at higher coupon rates and lower investment income, partly offset by lower interest costs from reduced short term borrowings in H1 2026 compared to H1 2025.
Reported net finance costs were £169m (H1 2025: £140m), including net charges of £34m (H1 2025: £11m) relating to the revaluation and retranslation of financial instruments.
Tax
The headline effective tax rate (based on headline profit before tax) was 33.5% (H1 2025: 18.3%).
The headline tax rate in the first half is higher than the prior corresponding period primarily due to a non-recurring benefit of credits from the successful resolution of a tax matter in the prior period.
The reported effective tax rate was 65.1% (H1 2025: 28.6%). The reported effective tax rate is higher than the headline effective tax rate primarily due to non-deductible losses in the income statement.
Earnings per share ("EPS") and dividend
Headline diluted EPS was 15.1p (H1 2025: 20.0p), a decrease of 24.5% due to lower headline operating profit, higher headline net finance costs and a higher headline effective tax rate.
Reported diluted EPS was 1.7p (H1 2025: 4.0p), a decrease of 57.5% due to higher reported net finance costs and a higher reported effective tax rate, partially offset by higher reported operating profit.
For 2026, the Board is declaring an interim dividend of 7.5p (H1 2025: 7.5p). The record date for the interim dividend is 9 October 2026, and the dividend will be payable on 2 November 2026.
Cash flow highlights
Unaudited headline cash flow statement1:
|
Six months ended (£ million) |
30 June 2026 |
30 June 2025 |
|
Headline operating profit |
398 |
412 |
|
Headline earnings from associates |
14 |
17 |
|
Depreciation of property, plant and equipment |
66 |
82 |
|
Amortisation of other intangibles |
24 |
20 |
|
Depreciation of right-of-use assets |
98 |
101 |
|
Headline EBITDA |
600 |
632 |
|
Less: headline earnings from associates |
(14) |
(17) |
|
Repayment of lease liabilities and related interest |
(164) |
(170) |
|
Non-cash compensation |
49 |
41 |
|
Non-headline cash items (including restructuring costs) |
(77) |
(35) |
|
Capex |
(85) |
(88) |
|
Adjusted operating cash flow before working capital |
309 |
363 |
|
Working capital outflow2 |
(807) |
(1,348) |
|
Adjusted operating cash flow |
(498) |
(985) |
|
% conversion of Headline operating profit |
(125)% |
(239)% |
|
Net dividends (to minorities)/from associates |
(8) |
(11) |
|
Contingent consideration liability payments |
(14) |
(15) |
|
Net interest paid |
(85) |
(93) |
|
Cash tax3 |
(120) |
(168) |
|
Adjusted free cash flow |
(725) |
(1,272) |
|
Disposal proceeds |
64 |
6 |
|
Net initial acquisition payments |
(109) |
(133) |
|
Dividends |
- |
- |
|
Share purchases |
(20) |
(92) |
|
Adjusted net cash flow |
(790) |
(1,491) |
|
Reported: |
|
|
|
Net cash outflow from operating activities |
(660) |
(1,036) |
1 The Group's unaudited cash flow statement and notes for the six months ended 30 June 2026 is provided in Appendix 1 and any non-GAAP measures in this table are reconciled in Appendix 4.
2 The Group adopted the IFRS 9 amendments effective 1 January 2026. As at 30 June 2026, the impact of the amendments increased cash and cash equivalents and trade and other payables, decreasing the working capital outflow in the first half of 2026, by £180m.
3 Cash tax in H1 2025 included £43m related to tax payments for the FGS disposal.
Adjusted operating cash outflow was £498m (H1 2025: £985m). The main driver of the lower cash outflow period on period was the £541m lower working capital outflow, slightly offset by higher non-headline cash items of £77m (H1 2025: £35m). Working capital was a net outflow of £807m (H1 2025: £1,348m), which includes a £180m benefit reflecting IFRS 9 amendments and also reflects the usual seasonality of client activity and timing of payments. Non-headline cash items includes £83m (H1 2025: £40m) of cash restructuring costs partially offset by £6m (H1 2025: £5m) of investment income received. Cash restructuring costs comprises £59m (H1 2025: nil) of Elevate28 costs and £24m (H1 2025: £40m) of historical programme costs.
Adjusted free cash outflow was £725m, lower than prior period (H1 2025: £1,272m) predominantly due to lower adjusted operating cash outflow and lower tax payments. Adjusted net cash outflow of £790m (H1 2025: £1,491m) was lower than H1 2025 due to higher disposal proceeds, lower acquisition payments (including for Barrows, MAP and Resolve) and lower share purchases.
Reported net cash outflow from operating activities (see Appendix 1) decreased to £660m (H1 2025: £1,036m outflow) due to the increase in reported operating profit and lower working capital outflow.
Balance sheet highlights
Unaudited balance sheet
As at 30 June 2026, the Group had total equity of £2,788m (31 December 2025: £2,772m).
Non-current assets of £10,904m were broadly flat (31 December 2025: £10,905m) with no significant changes in H1 2026.
Current assets of £12,671m decreased by £499m (31 December 2025: £13,170m), principally due to a decrease in cash and cash equivalents of £331m, and accrued income which decreased by £80m to £2,993m.
Current liabilities of £14,638m decreased by £197m (31 December 2025: £14,835m), principally due to trade and other payables which decreased by £829m, partially offset by an increase in current borrowings of £657m. The increase in current borrowings is due to €750m of 2.375% bonds maturing in May 2027 becoming current.
The decrease in accrued income and trade and other payables is primarily due to the seasonality of client activity and timing of payments, with the movement from December consistent with prior years.
Non-current liabilities of £6,149m (31 December 2025: £6,468m) decreased due to lower non-current borrowings, which is primarily due to €750m of 2.375% bonds becoming current, partially offset by the issuance of US$600m of 6.5% bonds. Further detail on bond activity is below.
Recognised within total equity, other comprehensive income of £39m (H1 2025: £304m loss) for the period includes a £48m gain (H1 2025: £359m loss) for foreign exchange differences on translation of foreign operations, and a £13m loss (H1 2025: £88m gain) on the Group's net investment hedges.
Adjusted net debt1
As at 30 June 2026, the Group had cash and cash equivalents of £2,363m (31 December 2025: £2,694m) and borrowings of £5,345m (31 December 2025: £4,936m). The Group has current liquidity of £4,063m (31 December 2025: £4,384m) comprising cash and cash equivalents, bank overdrafts and undrawn credit facilities.
As at 30 June 2026, adjusted net debt was £2,935m2 (30 June 2025: £3,261m, 31 December 2025: £2,167m), down £326m from 30 June 2025, but up £768m since the beginning of the year, reflecting seasonal cash outflows in the first half of the year. Average adjusted net debt at 30 June 2026 was £3,304m2, compared to £3,404m at 31 December 2025 and £3,383m at 30 June 2025. The average adjusted net debt to headline EBITDA ratio in the 12 months ended 30 June 2026 is 2.18x (12 months ended 30 June 2025: 1.98x).
The Group has a five-year Revolving Credit Facility of US$2,500m maturing in February 2031, with no financial covenants and which remained undrawn at 30 June 2026.
In March 2026, WPP issued US$600m of 6.5% bonds (that were swapped to €519m at 5.45%) and matures in March 2036. The bond raising was oversubscribed, reflecting strong investor demand.
As at 30 June 2026, our bond portfolio had an average maturity of 5.7 years (31 December 2025: 5.8 years) and a weighted average coupon rate of 3.7% (31 December 2025: 3.5%).
1 Adjusted net debt is reconciled in Appendix 4.
2 The Group adopted the IFRS 9 amendments effective 1 January 2026. This increased cash and cash equivalents and reduced adjusted net debt by £180m as at 1 January 2026. As at 30 June 2026, the impact of the amendments was that cash and cash equivalents were higher and adjusted net debt was lower by £125m. Furthermore, the 12-month rolling average adjusted net debt as at 30 June 2026 was £114m lower, calculated by applying the amendments for the period 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
Financial outlook
Our guidance for 2026 is as follows:
Following first half down 4.7%, like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs overall to decline low to mid-single digits in the second half
Headline operating profit margin expected to be 12% to 13%
Adjusted operating cash flow before working capital of £800m to £900m
Other 2026 modelling assumptions, consistent with our 2025 Preliminary Results release:
|
• |
Mergers and acquisitions will not significantly impact revenue less pass-through costs |
|
• |
FX impact: current rates (at 31 July 2026, with USD/GBP rate of 1.35) imply a c.0.7% drag on FY 2026 revenue less pass-through costs |
|
• |
Headline earnings from associates of around £30m |
|
• |
Non-controlling interests of around £45m |
|
• |
Headline net finance costs of around £290m |
|
• |
Headline effective tax rate1 between 33% to 34% |
|
• |
Capex of around £190m |
|
• |
Total cash restructuring costs of around £250m, consisting of c.£190m from Elevate28 and c.£60m from historical programmes |
|
• |
In addition, we now expect disposal-related activity to generate cash proceeds of at least £200m |
1 Headline tax as a % of headline profit before tax.
Elevate28 Targets
Phase 1: Stabilise (2026) The immediate priority is to stabilise net new business performance. We will also execute cost saving initiatives, and take portfolio actions to improve balance sheet flexibility.
|
• |
Financial goal: Deliver positive net new business, achieve gross run-rate savings of £250m by year-end (equivalent to around £100m in-year gross savings) and progress portfolio actions. |
Phase 2: Build (2027) We will fully implement and start to benefit from our revised go-to-market strategy and continue to deliver benefits of the new operating model via improved execution and further reductions in costs.
|
• |
Financial goal: Return to organic growth during 2027, rebuild margins and reduce leverage. |
Phase 3: Accelerate (2028 and beyond) WPP will emerge as a simpler, lower-cost, AI-enabled business. Revenue growth will be driven by the full integration of media, creative, production and enterprise solutions, as well as the global scaling of agentic workflows.
|
• |
Financial goal: Accelerate organic growth, expand margins, deliver strong cash conversion. |
Across all three phases a priority will be to maintain an investment-grade balance sheet.
Q2 2026 highlights
Below we highlight key developments from Q2 across the Group:
Clients
• WPP new business momentum - During the second quarter, WPP's new business momentum continued, placing us #1 in J.P. Morgan's quarterly New Business Rankings (see link). This was driven by wins across media, creative and integrated services, including being appointed as Henkel's global creative partner, added to Heineken's global creative roster and selected as Natura and Avon's strategic integrated partner for creative, media and production in LATAM. Notable media wins include Just Eat Takeaway globally, Honda in Europe and Wendy's in the US. We also saw a number of important retentions, including the renewal of Skechers across multiple markets, media and influencer work with L'Oréal in Australia and New Zealand and creative work for Deutsche Bahn in Germany.
• WPP trust principles - WPP introduced a codified set of trust principles as a commitment to our clients and partners that describe how we operate (see link). In an environment where AI is dramatically transforming the industry and trust is increasingly in scarce supply, we believe now is the time to be explicit about the standards we hold ourselves to. The five principles are: (1) clients own and control their data; (2) WPP Open is open by design; (3) consumers are people, not IDs; (4) AI augments human creativity rather than replacing it; and (5) we take accountability for driving our clients' growth.
• WPP Enterprise Solutions expansion - In early July, WPP announced expansion plans for WPP Enterprise Solutions and established it as a leading growth partner for organisations navigating AI-powered digital transformation (see link). WPP Enterprise Solutions brings together capabilities in commerce, consulting, content transformation, CRM, loyalty and first-party data, customer and product experience, and engineering and platforms to help design, build and operate the growth systems that competitive businesses rely on. The business partners with global brands such as IKEA, Ford, L'Oréal and Nestlé to deliver marketing modernisation and business transformation.
• WPP agencies recognised at Cannes Lions 2026 - WPP claimed the top two spots at the 2026 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for Creative Network of the Year with Ogilvy #1 and VML #2 (see link) while Burson London was named PR Agency of the Year. Across the festival, WPP agencies collected 140 Lions - a Titanium Lion, 7 Grand Prix, 29 Gold, 40 Silver and 63 Bronze - with winning entries representing creative talent and client partnerships from more than 25 countries around the world. WPP Media emerged as the most awarded media group at the festival for the second consecutive year. VML, with support from Burson, earned the festival's most prestigious distinction, a Titanium Lion, for 'Oreo Cows'. VML, Burson and OpenMind also earned the PR Grand Prix for 'KitKat Heist'. This year's winning campaigns showcased WPP's ability to deliver culturally resonant work that earns brands a place in people's lives and drives measurable business growth.
• WPP Media Business Intelligence releases latest 'This Year, Next Year' report - In June, WPP Media Business Intelligence published its Mid-Year Global Advertising Forecast for 2026 (see link), projecting global ad revenue to reach $1.3 trillion with 8.9% growth. The report notes that AI investment, both from AI native companies and traditional advertisers, is positively impacting advertising spend.
Technology
• WPP launches HEX - WPP announced the launch of HEX (see link), the company's frontier studio built for the era of AI. Comprising of approximately 50 creative technologists from diverse backgrounds such as architecture, gaming, fine art and robotics, HEX operates at the intersection of innovation, imagination and craft. HEX sits within WPP Production's content production and innovation teams and acts simultaneously as a creative production studio, R&D lab and consultancy. The studio specialises in generative and agentic AI, gaming, immersive experiences and robotics, and is already delivering innovative work for WPP's global client roster.
• Meta creative partnership - WPP was named a launch partner to pilot Meta's newest creative solution, integrated within WPP Open (see link). Meta's new creative solution is currently in testing and was built to navigate creative strategy and optimisation for brands to analyse and suggest improvements for creative performance. This planned integration enables WPP teams to turn campaign performance data into a clear creative playbook with AI, allowing marketers to move beyond guesswork, easily identify high-performing creative, generate new concepts and validate them with robust testing.
• WPP partners with Google Cloud on AI research initiative - WPP announced an AI research initiative with Google Cloud (see link), building on the company's new Cloud and AI partnership announced late 2025. This new research arm unites functions across Google to reimagine the consumer journey, from audience intelligence, to creative and content production, and measurement. This partnership enables WPP and Google Cloud to demonstrate that the next phase of AI empowering creatives will be defined by research depth and human creativity. This vision is part of a much larger partnership that integrates research workstreams into WPP's creative and media processes. An example of the partnership working is recently where WPP and Google DeepMind collaborated to solve a unique creative challenge: seamlessly lip-syncing the iconic Duracell Bunny for a global football campaign.
• WPP Enterprise Solutions strategic collaboration agreement with AWS - In June, WPP signed a multi-year Strategic Collaboration Agreement with Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) (see link) to deepen WPP Enterprise Solutions' role as a specialist commerce and customer experience partner helping enterprise brands operationalise production-grade generative and agentic AI on AWS. The agreement accelerates how enterprise brands close the gap between AI experimentation and scaled business impact across commerce, customer experience and marketing operations. WPP Enterprise Solutions brings engineering depth and creative-to-commerce expertise to AWS generative and agentic AI capabilities, delivering production-grade AI systems at the speed and scale enterprise customers need to meet consumer demand.
People
• Chief Strategy Officer appointment - In June, WPP appointed Baiju Shah as WPP's new Group Chief Strategy Officer (see link). Baiju will lead WPP's strategy and corporate development agenda while continuing as CEO of AKQA. In this role, he will help to accelerate delivery of the company's long-term strategy and unlock corporate development opportunities across WPP.
• New Global Presidents, Client Growth - In May, WPP appointed WPP Media's Toby Jenner and Ogilvy's Philip Heimann as Global Presidents of Client Growth. Both are part of WPP's Executive Committee and the global leadership teams of their respective areas of expertise: Toby as part of the leadership team of WPP Media and Philip of WPP Creative. They both report to WPP's Chief Operating Officer, Devika Bulchandani and are responsible for executing WPP's integrated growth strategy hand-in-hand with the new business teams to ensure WPP is strongly positioned to secure growth opportunities in the market.
• New Board member - In late April, WPP appointed Peter Agnefjäll to its Board as Non-Executive Director, with effect from 11 May 2026 (see link). Peter began his career at IKEA as a graduate trainee in 1995 and held a number of senior positions before serving as Chief Executive Officer and President of the IKEA Group (Ingka Holding B.V.) from 2013 to 2017. During this period, he led the company's growth agenda and move into omnichannel retail, new shopping and distribution formats.
Investor materials
• Annual and Sustainability Reports - Our 2025 Annual Report was published in March 2026. The report provides a comprehensive overview of WPP's financial results, strategy and future growth initiatives, while including important updates on corporate governance and sustainability. Additional context on ways WPP is working to deliver against its ESG activities can be seen in our 2025 Sustainability Report.
• WPP webinars - WPP hosted a series of webinars designed to give investors and analysts deeper insight into our agencies, products, services and market forecasts. These sessions featured presentations by WPP leadership and agency executives, covering industry trends, strategic updates and business performance. During the second quarter, we have published three webinars on WPP Media, the latest 'This Year, Next Year' report and a Cannes Lions 2026 investor session with WPP Creative, WPP Production and WPP Open. To watch these, please see WPP webinars.
Detailed regional analysis
Regional - revenue analysis
|
£ million |
Q2 2026 |
Q2 2025 (restated)1 |
+/(-) % reported |
+/(-) % LFL |
|
North America |
1,253 |
1,279 |
(2.0) |
(1.8) |
|
EMEA |
1,346 |
1,379 |
(2.4) |
(2.9) |
|
APAC |
587 |
616 |
(4.7) |
(2.9) |
|
LATAM |
157 |
146 |
7.5 |
1.3 |
|
Total Group |
3,343 |
3,420 |
(2.3) |
(2.3) |
|
£ million |
H1 2026 |
H1 2025 (restated)1 |
+/(-) % reported |
+/(-) % LFL |
|
North America |
2,374 |
2,537 |
(6.4) |
(3.4) |
|
EMEA |
2,609 |
2,650 |
(1.5) |
(2.4) |
|
APAC |
1,099 |
1,188 |
(7.5) |
(4.4) |
|
LATAM |
291 |
288 |
1.0 |
(2.6) |
|
Total Group |
6,373 |
6,663 |
(4.4) |
(3.2) |
Regional - revenue less pass-through costs analysis
|
£ million |
Q2 2026 |
Q2 2025 (restated)1 |
+/(-) % reported |
+/(-) % LFL |
|
North America |
930 |
974 |
(4.5) |
(4.3) |
|
EMEA |
1,024 |
1,051 |
(2.6) |
(3.0) |
|
APAC |
379 |
379 |
- |
0.3 |
|
LATAM |
152 |
140 |
8.6 |
0.9 |
|
Total Group |
2,485 |
2,544 |
(2.3) |
(2.8) |
|
£ million |
H1 2026 |
H1 2025 (restated)1 |
+/(-) % reported |
+/(-) % LFL |
|
North America |
1,792 |
1,966 |
(8.9) |
(6.0) |
|
EMEA |
1,965 |
2,037 |
(3.5) |
(4.3) |
|
APAC |
701 |
744 |
(5.8) |
(3.8) |
|
LATAM |
287 |
279 |
2.9 |
(1.2) |
|
Total Group |
4,745 |
5,026 |
(5.6) |
(4.7) |
Regional - headline operating profit analysis
|
£ million |
H1 2026 |
% margin2 |
H1 2025 (restated) |
% margin2 |
|
North America |
241 |
13.4 |
281 |
14.3 |
|
EMEA |
117 |
6.0 |
92 |
4.5 |
|
APAC |
27 |
3.9 |
26 |
3.5 |
|
LATAM |
13 |
4.5 |
13 |
4.7 |
|
Total Group |
398 |
8.4 |
412 |
8.2 |
1 The Group's geographical areas have been reorganised. Prior year comparatives have been restated to reflect these changes.
2 Headline operating profit as a percentage of revenue less pass-through costs.
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