NEW YORK & LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mar 11, 2021–
WPP (NYSE: WPP) today reported its 2020 Preliminary Results.
Key figures – continuing operations
|
£ million |
2020 |
+/(-)% |
+/(-)% |
2019 |
||||
|
Revenue |
12,003 |
(9.3) |
(7.3) |
13,234 |
||||
|
Revenue less pass-through |
9,762 |
(10.0) |
(8.2) |
10,847 |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Reported: |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Operating (loss)/profit |
(2,278) |
n/m 3 |
– |
1,296 |
||||
|
(Loss)/profit before tax |
(2,791) |
n/m |
– |
1,214 4 |
||||
|
Diluted EPS (p) |
(243.2) |
n/m |
– |
68.2 4 |
||||
|
Dividends per share (p) |
24.0 |
5.7 |
– |
22.7 |
||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Headline 5: |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Operating profit |
1,261 |
(19.2) |
(17.2) |
1,561 |
||||
|
Operating profit margin |
12.9% |
(1.5)pt* |
(1.4)pt* |
14.4% |
||||
|
Profit before tax |
1,041 |
(23.6) |
– |
1,363 |
||||
|
Diluted EPS (p) |
59.9 |
(23.3) |
– |
78.1 |
||||
|
* Margin points |
Full year and Q4 financial highlights
- FY continuing operations reported revenue -9.3%, LFL revenue -7.3%
- FY LFL revenue less pass-through costs -8.2%; sequential recovery since initial lockdowns: Q2 -15.1%, Q3 -7.6%, Q4 -6.5%
- Q4 LFL revenue less pass-through costs by major market: US -6.2%, UK -7.4%, Germany -0.8%, Greater China -12.1%, India -8.9%
- FY headline operating margin 12.9%, down 1.5pt on prior year as cost savings of over £800 million offset the majority of the revenue decline; H2 headline operating margin +0.5pt
- Reported loss before tax impacted by £3.1 billion of impairments (£2.8 billion goodwill, £0.3 billion investment and other write-downs)
- Net debt at 31 December 2020 £0.7 billion, better than…
