WPP today released earnings on the one-year anniversary of sending its 100,000 employees to work from home during the pandemic, and like other holding companies that have reported before it, there is a consistent theme: Not-so-down is the new up.
In a presentation to analysts, CEO Mark Read described the company’s performance since then as “resilient,” saying that there has been “sequential recovery” since lockdown.
Specifically, he said that the company’s net sales went from a 15.1% drop in the second quarter of 2020 to a 7.6% fall in the third quarter and 6.5% in the fourth. Categories including tech, consumer packaged goods and pharma, which together comprise 57% of its business, were strong, as well as digital commerce services which jumped 43%. WPP also cited $4.4 billion in net new business from clients including Alibaba, HSBC, Intel, JP Morgan, and Unilever.